Another Mediterranean hilltop town, with a great modern art museum
Written: Mar 21 '09
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Pros: Maeght Foundation, walls of old town, easy to get to from Nice or Cannes
Cons: town is ultra-touristy
The Bottom Line: There are many, more charming old hill towns in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, but only one Maeght Foundation museum—and it's adjacent to St-Paul-de-Vence.
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| Jiahong's Full Review: Saint Paul de Vence |
Because Barbara's visit to Saint-Paul-de-Vence did not include the Foundation Maeght just below and outside the medieval town, this seemed to me like a French destination to which I could add something for the "French finds" writeoff that is a tribute to our gravely ill Francophile-in-chief.
Perhaps the Fragonard store was not there when she was in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. Since we had an order for some Fragonard orange scent and our scheduled trip to Grasse (the perfume capital of the world, and thus the site in which the novel and movie "Perfume" gravitate to), this was a relief, and we did not disappoint the friend.
We had considerably more difficulty locating the tomb of Marc Chagall in the cemetery of the town church (yes, he was Jewish, but rich and famous and a long-time resident). I don't know why we were making a pilgrimage to the tomb of Marc Chagall, but once Steve decides to do something, he does not give up easily. The cemetery is on descending terraces and Chagall's plain tomb is in the second level down, the second one on the left of the right aisle as one descends from the church.
We were able to walk on the ramparts of the town, but that cannot compete with walking the ramparts all the way around Dubrovnik or some Spanish ones (we'll leave out the Great Wall of China, OK?).
The medieval town is all art galleries, souvenir shops, ice-cream dispensaries, and bistros. The stones and the narrow cobblestone streets are authentic, but the rest is Disneyfied — or in my local terms, a variant on Fisherman's Wharf with higher prices (W having destroyed the value of the US dollar). The crème de la crème of tourist locations is the Colombe d' Or Hotel, which includes an appropriately pricey art gallery. Well, I'm not even sure about the antiquity of the walls and streets, since the town was razed not quite to the ground in 1747. The physical structure is classical in vintage, though the streets were not widened or straightened. Probably other hill towns further in the interior of Provençe are more genuinely medieval. (For those who consider only the interior to be "Provençe," St. Paul is Côte d'Azure though not directly on the Mediterranean. It's about 25 km from Nice and can be reached by taking the #400 bus from the central Nice bus station.)
We did see people — a few women, but mostly old men — playing boules (as Barbara did). There is some subtle difference between it and the Italian version (botchee), though I've forgotten what it is.
Catalan architect Lluis Sert made the building(s) of La Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght, northwest of the town and next to a forest, very striking. The roof of the main building has two cantilevers (I think that is what they're called: like a gigantic tube that has been cut in half and both halves open to the top and extending beyond the rooftop.)
A courtyard filled with Giacometti bronzes of various sizes is a highlight. There is a ceramic mosaic designed by Marc Chagall, a fountain designed by Georges Braque, who also designed stained-glass windows for the chapel (on the site of a medieval temple that was on the site of a pagan temple).
Depending on how one counts, the main exhibition building is inside a sculpture garden, or there is one sculpture garden in front of it and a two-level one behind it or two behind it.
The museum's collection of paintings includes Giacometti, Chagall, Braque, Bonnard, Braque, Dubuffet, Kandinsky, Léger, Malevitch, Miró plus the usual Calder mobiles (plus a less usual one by Hans Arp) and Henry Moore sculptures. There's a great fountain the name of the designer of it I've unfortunately forgotten.
The gift/book shop includes Maeght publications dating back to the 1950s (see http://www.maeght.com/editions/; Steve was especially interested in a limited edition of poems by Blaise Cendras, I by some Joan Miró objects) as well as monographs, postcards, scarves, and the usual museum store bric-a-brac. I don't recall seeing the cafeteria, though one is listed on the brochure I have.
Admission is eleven euros for adults (including seniors), ten for students, free for children under ten. From the first of October until the end of June it is open 10:-18:00, and stays open an hour later from July through September.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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