Aristide Maillol

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Paul

Today we visited the neighboring seaside town of Banyuls-sur-Mer.

IMG_3507 Large Web view

While many know this town as the namesake of a popular aperitif, it also was the birthplace, home, and final resting place of Aristide Maillol. Maillol was an artist of incredible talent who painted, sketched, and sculpted in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. He was associated with Les Nabis, a post-impressionist group of artists who supported each other in their efforts to forge new forms of art for the 20th century. Maillol went his own way, specializing in sculpture. Maillol’s best known works may be his exquisite life sized sculptures of nude women. However, his paintings and drawings are fantastic and humbling to see.

IMG_3535 Large Web view

Maillol is buried in the garden of his home. It is on a mountain side about 2 miles outside Banyuls, surrounded by terraced grape vineyard, olive orchards, and the southern most peaks of the Pyrennes. It is a rough landscape that challenges the eye with distant views, close up details, varied textures, scents that tweak the nose, and subtle color. A video of the artist in this environment shows his love for the mountains of his home.

Here are but a few sample of his work as seen in the open air. Three of these are on public display in the town of Banyuls sur Mer. The other one is the sculpture on his grave.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We enjoyed walking around the town as well as the short hike up a country lane to the museum.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Tomorrow is market day in Collioure!

Paul

Posted in Art, Collioure, Retirement, Travel | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Walking Around Collioure with JP

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Paul

Our friends JP and Koko arrived Sunday. Today was an orientation day to walk around and get to know the town. Many familiar sights for us, but new to them. Jean and Koko went one way and JP and I another. Later we met at Les Templiers for a drink before returning home where JP prepared a dinner of fig and feta pasta. What a life!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

At Les Templiers we learned that among the 2000 paintings there is one by a famous artist. Jean and Koko had met an artist who told them that there is a Picasso in the bar. We found it.

IMG_3488 Large Web view

JP took a couple of photos of me, which I am including because I am seldom in the pics I take and post.

Today we will go to Banyuls to see Maillol sculpture and paintings.

Paul

Posted in Art, Collioure, Retirement, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Catalan Coast

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Paul

Leaving Figueres after our visit to the Dali museum (previous post) we drove to Llanas Spain on the coast. From there we drove the winding coastal road back into France and Collioure. This is at times a nail-biting drive. We did come upon a head on accident on one curve. However, the scenery is breathtaking. Jean saw more of it than I did, but I did manage a few pics when we stopped at some turnouts. It was a beautiful end to our day in Espana.

Paul

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Posted in Collioure, Retirement, Travel | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Salvador Dali

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Paul

Yesterday we traveled to Figueres, Spain to connect with JP and Koko at the Dali Museum. This Theater/Museum was designed by the master himself as a final resting place for himself and his works. The design twists back and forth upon itself, forcing the visitor to backtrack often and look back where you’ve been from an entirely different perspective. It’s a bit like walking through one of his paintings. Here are some pics of JP and I having a bit of fun in the mirrored stairway.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The collection is overwhelming. I cannot process that much Dali in one visit. However, there were some surprises. We didn’t see a single melting watch until almost the end of the tour. Lip couches were in short supply. He did some marvelous watercolors. And Dali painted some remarkably realistic paintings. Here are just a few examples of his work you may not see in many Dali exhibits.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A special treat was an unannounced special exhibition of works by Antoni Pitxot, a friend and collaborator of Dali. Pitxot died earlier this year. His works were of two styles: paintings of human figures composed of rock, and depictions of alga and lichen on rocks. They were stunning. Here is one example.

IMG_3421 Large Web view

Click the highlighted links in the text above for more details.

We followed our visit with lunch with our friends in a local cafe located just behind the museum.

Paul

Posted in Art, Collioure, Retirement, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Collioure By Day and By Night

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Paul

Too much to do and not enough time and energy. Time to get caught up on posts about our activities. We spent a couple of days just wandering about the town, doing some sketching and painting, and taking photographs. Unfortunately, shortly after I took Jean’s picture below the wind took her painting and deposited it in the rocks or in the sea. In any case it was not to be found. A masterpiece lost!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The bottom level of the Chateau Royale is a training headquarters for the French commandos. Therefore, almost every week day we are entertained by watching these young folks play on zodiacs, swim in the sea, and do all sorts of maneuvers . Crowds line the pier to see these kids play bumper cars with their rafts as they learn to paddle in a straight line. The machine guns remind us that these children also come with a nasty bite.

IMG_3357 Large Web view

Collioure is quite different after dark than the view most tourists get who come for the day.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It is a never-ending and ever-changing scene that lends itself to art.

Paul

Posted in Art, Collioure, Photography, Retirement, Travel | Tagged | 1 Comment

Collioure Views

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Paul

We’ve had a couple of lazy first days in Collioure. The unsettled weather has had something to do with that…sunny, then cloudy, dry, then raining, calm, then windy. Last night some severe thunder and lightning seems to have cleared the sky for the moment. Despite this we have been able to walk around town, meet some local artists, take a few photos, and do some sketching.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Collioure is all about the sea. It sits on a small bay below steep hills. An ancient castle stands atop the tallest hill to the south with a windmill just below it.  Several other ancient and modern forts and castles sit atop neighboring mountains and hills. However, the Collioure Royal Castle is the centerpiece of the village and the waterfront. The Romans mentioned their castle here, Castrum Caucoliberi, existing in the 7th century. Built on those Roman foundations in the 13th century by the Knights Templar and added to in the 14th century for the Mallorcan royal family, this castle has seen it all. Collioure was the epicenter of the Spanish and French struggles to control Catalonia. The Spanish controlled by the Spanish Habsburgs until 1642, when French troops took the town and occupied the castle in the name of thee Bourbons. Despite Louis XIV’s additional fortifications the Spanish reclaimed the castle in 1793. However, their residency lasted only one year. Since that time it has remained in French hands. During the Spanish Civil War it house Spanish refugees. During Vichy rule those Spanish refugees were imprisoned and many sent to North Africa. Today the castle is an historic monument.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Today is the second of two market days. It is smaller than the Sunday market. We are off to shop!

Paul

Posted in Art, Collioure, Photography, Retirement, Travel | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Collioure

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Paul

Welcome to Collioure! This is our third visit to this lovely town by the sea. It was a favorite place for Fauvists and other post-impressionist painters. Collioure continues to attract artists as evidenced by an abundance of galleries and ateliers. There is a trail of reproductions of Fauvist paintings in the very spot where they were painted as in this Matisse view of the village and distant hilltop.

IMG_3264 Large Web view

Our apartment is in a relatively new building at the edge of the old city. It is a 5 minute walk to the narrow medieval lanes. We have limited views – the hilltop that divides the two halves of the old town, and the old city cemetery.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The cemetery is home to the grave of Antonio Machado, the famed Spanish poet of the early 20th century. He is buried here because in 1936 this social realist poet was forced to flee Franco’s fascist army. When the fascists took Barcelona in 1938 Machado and his mother fled to this little Catalan village safely in France. They both died less than a year later.

Traveller, the path is your tracks
And nothing more.
Traveller, there is no path
The path is made by walking.
By walking you make a path
And turning, you look back
At a way you will never tread again
Traveller, there is no road
Only wakes in the sea.”
― Antonio Machado, Border of a Dream: Selected Poems

Another interesting artist, Balbino Giner,  is buried here. His is the most colorful grave and reflects his art.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Yesterday evening and today we walked around the city. Today was market day, so we began there. Shopping was in order and we didn’t take our cameras. However, the rest of the day we walked the little streets. Here is a brief sample of the sights in the village.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We ended the afternoon with a stop for a drink at our favorite Collioure bar, Les Templiers. They have the walls covered with paintings. We found some familiar ones from our visit two years ago and a few that appeared to be new since then.

Les Templiers

Les Templiers

Today was mostly cloudy with just a few rain drops. The next two days promise thunder storms and more rain.

“But don’t hunt for dissonance:
There is no such thing;
People dance to all tunes.”
― Antonio Machado

Paul

 

Posted in Art, Collioure, Photography, Retirement, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Last Days in St. Remy

Posted on October 3, 2015 by Paul

Today we moved from our little house in old St. Remy to a new apartment in Collioure. This involved a rainy, windy drive across the bottom of France, hugging the Mediterranean shore from Provence to near the Spanish border. Not a day of great sights or experiences. Now we are resettled in Catalan France.

Our next to last day in St. Remy we returned to the Camargue. It’s difficult to believe anyone can ever get too much of flamingos, but I’m sure some of you are wondering if that is possible. Just to show that there are other critters in the Camargue:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The two of us love to watch the flamingos and I’ll bet you’ve never seen a flamingo feeding frenzy.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Last night we ventured onto the streets of St. Remy to see the Tour de Ville, a 50 kilometer bicycle race that involves 40 laps of the ring road around the old village. The race began at 8:00 PM, so was totally in the dark. It took a little over a minute per lap, so we got to see the riders often and eventually the field strung out so someone was always coming by. There was a great deal of shouting and hand waving. I may even have seen an upraised middle finger or two. In the end the race finished, but there were no upraised arms in victory. Everyone just kept on spinning around the village again.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

And so we bid goodbye to St. Remy and our wonderful hostess, Delphine. Her house was a great place for us and our friends to become part of village life. We made several friends during our stay and hope to see them again, either in St. Remy or if they visit us in Seattle.

Next post: Collioure.

Paul

Posted in Friendship, Photography, Saint-Remy-de-Provence, Travel | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A Day At The Camargue

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Paul

Yesterday we revisited the Camargue. This time we began at the salt works, a vast area of lagoons that are flooded and then allowed to dry up to collect the salt. For the first time we witnessed the harvesting of the salt. Dredges slowly worked across the salt/sand flats skimming the mostly salt grains and pouring them into dump trucks. The trucks sped across the flats to the mountains of salt, deposited their loads, and then sped back to reload in a continuous circuit of salt. Their product is touted as the caviar of salt!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We drove across the mid section of the Camargue to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, a rather typical seaside tourist town that sits near the north end of the Camargue. It held little interest for us, so we adjourned to our favorite spot, the Pont du Gau Ornithological Park nearby. As has happened  before when we are there in late afternoon, the flamingos put on quite a show.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Although there was no market today due to the continuing Fete our favorite jazz group, Gig Street was playing in our nearby square. Therefore, our day began with a couple of hours of jazz. Jean was asked to dance by stranger. Pictures may be forthcoming of her exploits on the cobblestones!  In the afternoon we went up to Les Alpilles to do some drawing and painting.

This evening we met Pascal Bouterin at his gallery for some wine and wonderful conversation about art. He’s a terrific artist and warm personality. We hope we can get him to visit the Pacific Northwest soon.

Tomorrow we will return to the Camargue for the evening flamingo parade.

Good night!

Paul

Posted in Art, Photography, Retirement, Saint-Remy-de-Provence, Travel | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Les Alpilles

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Paul

With sunny weather and no mistral in the air it was time to head for the hills. A favorite spot for sketching and painting is in the mountains near Les Baux, an ancient and huge castle on a clifftop. The mistral winds and dry conditions kept us out of Les Alpilles during our first two weeks here.

There is a wayside atop a neighboring mountain with many trails branching across the ridges. Besides views of Les Baux, the mountains extend north and south, the plains on either side are beautifully covered with vineyards and olive orchards. Of course one of the best views are the rocks of Les Alpilles. Here are some photos.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We also encountered a most unusual wild bee hive. The bees had created a long channel in the crease of an old tree. There were so many bees going in and out that we assume the hive went deep into the tree. The channel was oriented down, presumably this keeps water out. A hole at the bottom provided the only entrance. Pretty cool!

IMG_2882 Large Web view

 

The bee's front door

The bee’s front door

Today we are returning to the Camargue. Get out the insect repellent!

Paul

Posted in Art, Photography, Saint-Remy-de-Provence, Travel | Tagged , , | 2 Comments