We headed out to the Matisse museum in Nice. It was a 20 minute uber ride to the museum which was next to a little park. We enjoyed the museum and were amazed and perplexed by the amount of space that was given to his work on the stations of the cross. This was a commissioned work for the church in Vence. What I found perplexing was the detail that his preparatory sketches had versus the absolute minimal lines used on the final work.
There was a series of ruins next to the museum
It was a large complex of buildings
The museum awaits
Right off the bat there was a huge work from his later years
Matisse suffered from arthritis and in his later years he used paper cut outs to make his art
This was one of the first copies made from a dig at Delphi in Greece
Metamorphosis is a series of bronze panels
The figure looses detail in each successive panel
Some lines get accnetualted
Some lines disappear entirely
This horse has only one leg to stand on
Jaguar!
Shaped cut out from his memories of his trip ti the South Pacific
Coral, perhaps
Matisse dabbled in pointillism
Lots 'o dots
This is a painting of Matisse done by his friend Andre Derain
Le Serpentine
A collection of four of his pallets
A model of the church in Vence. the exterior tile work was quite colorful and in sharp contrast to the interior
He designed clothing for the nuns and priests too
He is shown painting the tiles used for the stations of the cross
On the left an early sketch and on the right the line drawing of the final work
More detail top, less detail bottom
Carrying the cross
The sixth station
Eight
Eleven
Nine
Twelve
I preferred the prep work sketches to the final work
Here he is distilling the lines down
Thirteen, just bare bones
Fourteen
This is a life sized replica of the work
Back to a more representative style
Looking out the window it is a stationary mobile
An early 1916 piece
Playing some tunes
Another commissioned piece
Dancers
The inspiration for the Blue Man Group
The had quite a few bronzes
In the gallery devoted to botanical works
He found inspiration in plants
The center of the first floor
An example for the paper cut outs
Outside was a bocce ball tournament
The exterior of the museum
This was a thermal bath
In the park groves of olive trees
A fine light post
Delicately designed
A the end of the park was a church
A free library
Time for lunch
Our dining room
Long lashes and a longing look
No salad for the dog
A beef stew and beef ravioli combo
Lou's Croc Monsieur and my Onion Tart
Reinvigorated by our lunch
Off we go to he Chagall museum
This stood out from its surroundings
A grand old hotel
The Regina
Is this Queen Victoria and all her 10 kids?
A new angle on the town of Nice
Every so often we could peek past the fences and see luxury in display
Love the blue and white painted roofline
The black cat!
The photobombing pigeon
A mysterious sphere
Back in town
