Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ART APLENTY
The region's natural bounty didn't escape early settlers: the Romans built on Greek settle-
ments and their phenomenal legacy has helped shape the landscape. Many of
Provence-Côte d'Azur's towns and cities were first settled during antiquity; Provençal
vineyards are millennia-old and the region is peppered with superb Roman monuments,
from entire towns (Vaison-la-Romaine, Glanum) to the highest Roman structure still in ex-
istence (Pont du Gard) and the best preserved Roman theatre in the world (Orange's
Théâtre Antique).
Impressionist and 20th-century artists were also drawn by the region's incredible light,
which Matisse described as 'soft and tender, despite its brilliance'. Dozens of artists either
drew inspiration from or settled in the region, the result being a phenomenal artistic legacy:
Van Gogh painted some 200 oil canvases whilst in Arles and St-Rémy de Provence; Ma-
tisse designed and Picasso decorated chapels, and both left dozens of works to the cities of
Nice and Antibes respectively; and art collectors Aimé and Marguerite Maeght amassed so
many masterpieces from their friends that they opened the now world-famous Fondation
Maeght in St-Paul de Vence.
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