I couldn’t recall where we went first – Monaco or St Paul de Vence! Anyway all places I visited on that day are very close to each others. Saint Paul de Vence is truly a special destination, I learnt about the village on the internet before my trip, so I was very excited when the Office of Tourism in Nice told me St Paul de Vence is included in our 9-hour tour program.
It’s a small hill village, the history starting from the Middle-age period, back to 10th -12th century, but now Saint Paul de Vence is one of the most visited villages in France thanks to many art galleries, studios, schools, museums and different art items displayed in the village…and especially a home to a number of the famous artists, like Marc Chagall or movies celebs. Someone says “This is a paradise for the artists”!
Not far from the entrance – a symbolic sculpture on the village’s ramparts.
Surrounded by the ramparts built in 15th century by the order of François 1er
Almost every house here is a gallery – either for paintings, sculptures, art deco…or some other kinds of art that I didn’t know how to call it correctly. We spent more than one hour here, to walk around, to visit galleries, but to be honest I couldn’t enter to all places due to a sign, right at the entrance, “No enter with camera” but some places allows to take a very few shots. Anyway, I fully understand when people taking more pictures than buying something.
Quite interesting restaurant “La petite chapelle”, right at the entrance to the village
The artists displayed the artworks in a very simple way. Mostly no person in there, I could see only a cute dog, lying down at the door, but if we ring the bell, the artist or the gallery’s owner will come.
A painting displayed at the entrance, under the tree…
Other paintings hung up on the wall…
This cute dog will welcome you, hopefully, to the gallery!
At some galleries, I feel quite embarrassed to come inside only for the photo…
anyway I was able to manage to get some shots from far…
I really like this collection, this gallery could be one of the busiest in the village
Those nice bronze statues are of different sizes
Life-size or…
just desktop-size
it would be nice to have this kind of deco objects on desk
not sure about this one but it’s a true hard work
body painting on the mannequin wearing the helmet
It was mid September, not very crowded, I had quite enough time to walk around the village but regretfully I didn’t have a guide map or enough information about the galleries, the museums here, it happened that I went around around and back to the same spot.
I probably missed a chance to see different deco items displayed within the ramparts or to visit a gallery of the famous painters, houses of those celebs who used to live here. Actually I saw a studio of a French artist, originally Vietnamese, but the studio was closed, ring upon the request, but better not disturb him with my curiosity!
An excellent artwork by Luc Trizan – the old camera engraved on the stone.
It’s very interesting to get more details on some artwork displayed in the village like the old camera engraved on the stone by Luc Trizan (source: www.saint-pauldevence.com)
“Luc Trizan keeps the creative flame burning. His family comes from Florence in Tuscany, where working marble and stone is an almost sacred tradition.Luc studied architecture, travelled the world and then settled in Saint-Paul de Vence. He first encountered ochre in the quarries of the Sine Forest in Vence, and learned to work the pale beige material, incrusted with fossils and veined with transparent quartz… like a bunch of golden muscat grapes. Trizan uses this strong, bright and fascinating rock to take a fresh look at the concept of a work of art. He endeavours to extract images buried deep down in the stone’s memory and to transcribe them, to engrave them, to suggest them in polished or raw nuances. He creates a seed of awareness “because perhaps stone has a spirit?”. He places man before this raw material and the question of time. “But nature under assault rebels, takes hold of me, floods into me. I instinctively stand still and my sculpture gradually takes on a lasting form…”
another item in the corner between houses in the village
or a horse from thousands of horseshoes
I was wondering why the artists loved this place so much, but not only St Paul de Vence, many other places in South of France, probably thanks to the landscapes, the colourful nature, the azure blue sky, the Mediterranean sea, the mild weather, the sunlight…
The landscape in front of St Paul de Vence would be one of the inspirations?
The 9-hour tour cost me 79 Euros with a nice, pleasant guide-driver, originally from Morocco, Sami. Saying goodbye to Sami, I promised him to come back to Nice someday. I love this place like many other artists…
Sami, our tour guide to some hill villages near to Eze village
This was my last day in Southern France, I was happy to travel almost around France just in 15 days, all by train, that was an amazing experience. What I had to skip this time was the North-Eastern part of France, where later in 2015 I came to Alsace just few weeks before Christmas. Now my journey will continue down to the South, my next destination will be Verona, Venice, Florence and Rome.
Le petit renard 