Antibes & Picasso

Much of our holiday was dominated by art of one sort or another. The clarity of light around this area have brought artists to it.

 

Old Antibes

Our first gallery to look at was in Antibes, right next to Juan les Pins. Here we visited the Musée Picasso. Some of you may remember our visit to see an exhibition of his works at Martigny in Switzerland.

 

The cathedral taken from the entrance to the museum

In 1946 Picasso was offered a studio in the Château Grimaldi. He duly accepted & worked there. It was clearly a time of much joy, resulting in paintings such as “La Joie de Vivre”, which was on show. For those who believe Picasso couldn’t draw, have a look at “The Goat”. I expect a bleat at any moment as it gets up to leap around. On show were also an impressive collection of ceramics he made in nearby Vallauris. A sculpture stands outside in the courtyard on the way to the garden. It makes you realise the sheer range & quantity of art he made in his career.

 

On the wall, just beyond the square tower, are the figures in the museum garden

The museum garden (& sleepy visiotor)

One thing the exhibition did bring home was the paucity of art materials in the immediate post-war period as Picasso experimented with all sorts of different materials.

The collection at the Musée Picasso is largely based on Picasso’s own donation of 44 drawings & 23 paintings, all works he’d produced while at Antibes. Later additions have been donated to the gallery. There are also photos of him at work in the studio.

Other artists featured too, including Nicolas Staël who also stayed in Antibes at one time.  The house he stayed in has a plaque telling you when he stayed. It overlooks Fort Carré, his painting of which is on show.

Fort Carre across the harbour & Stael's house

It was a satisfying, emotional draining but wonderful exhibition, well worth the visit.