The art trail: the back story

About The art trail: the back story

By the ULTIMATE the French Riviera Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

The painters came for the light. This trail runs from Van Gogh’s Arles, west of the Riviera, through Renoir’s Cagnes, Bonnard’s Le Cannet, Picasso’s Antibes and Vallauris, Léger’s Biot and the Fondation Maeght at Saint-Paul-de-Vence, to Matisse and Chagall in Nice and Cocteau in Menton.

Arles

Van Gogh lived in Arles in 1888–89; Paul Gauguin joined him in the Yellow House on 23 October 1888 and stayed about nine weeks (Van Gogh Museum). Arles is about 2–2.5 hours from Cannes by road, nearer from Cassis.

Nice

The Musée Matisse at Cimiez and the Musée national Marc Chagall below it.

Check closing days: Chagall and Léger close on Tuesdays, Picasso in Antibes on Mondays.

Antibes, Biot and Vallauris

Picasso at the Château Grimaldi and, in Vallauris, War and Peace; Léger at Biot.

The hills

Renoir’s Les Collettes at Cagnes, Bonnard at Le Cannet and the Fondation Maeght at Saint-Paul-de-Vence.

Our advice: one museum in the morning, lunch, one in the afternoon. Two a day is plenty.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with The art trail: the back story before you go.