A memorable experience

I received an e-mail today from my cousin Trudy. It reminded me that I hadn't actually said much about our holiday experiences so far. I had hoped to have a photo to introduce this blog but we apparently didn't take one, even though I'm going to write about the most memorable visit we made.

And that visit was to the Chapelle du Rosaire at Vence. It was designed by Matisse for the Dominican nuns. Although an architect was employed for the building itself, he did decide on the proportions, materials etc.

It is only a fairly small chapel, but it has coherence of design which gives it immense power. Matisse had considered everything from the altar cloth with its fish design to the slender crucifix, the blue of the roof outside to the rough stone of the altar itself.

We were fortunate to be shown round by one of the nuns, a sort of French Sister Wendy. This nun spoke to no other visitors & yet she spent time pointing out the details & implications of the Matisse's work. She'd obviously spent much time studying the chapel. I suspect she reacted to our sense of awe & reverence as we slowly absorbed the peace & spirituality of the chapel.

Two walls are essentially glass, deep ultramarine, green & yellow. One wall is essentially palms, though the wave shapes are almost reminiscent of the sea. The other wall, behind the altar, is named "The Tree of Life", reflecting the cacti that grow around about.

The other long wall is dominated by two ceramic pictures done in tiles. The smaller is a portrait of St Dominic , the larger Mary & child. The nun pointed out that none of the faces had features. She reckoned that this meant that St Dominic could then be not just a portrait of the saint but of all Dominicans. In a similar way the Mary became the parent, the human, the sinner in us all.

The really haunting wall was the second short wall, facing the altar. Here was a huge tile depiction of the 12 stations of the cross. We were both struck by the violence & the pain it captured. It's easy to forget, to brush over, just how violent & painfilled that day was, to somehow assume because Jesus was the son of God he felt no pain, but there's no getting away from the fact here. You can feel the force of the hammer coming down to drive the nails through the feet, almost hear the crunch of bones & feel the shock & pain that had to have been endured. It's an image that will endure in our memories for ever.

Just to one side there is a small door, leading to the confessional. Through the carving of the door, the confessional itself looks bathed in pink. The nun pointed out the walls are in fact pure white. The pinkness is the effect of the colour of stained glass on the opposite wall across. Red is the complementary colour of blue & green light. Indeed Matisse used the flashes of colour from the windows to good effect throughout the chapel.

All in all the visit was a memorable one. No photograph could have captured it all. The experience was too intense, the images too strong.

If ever you are in the area, I would strongly recommend a visit. The chapel may be physically small but it is immense in feeling so give yourself time to absorb it through the very pores of your being.