Art s of the Burning Bush'', by Nicolas Froment, in
Aix Cathedral (15th century) Artists have been painting in Provence since prehistoric times; paintings of bisons, seals, auks and horses dating to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC were found in the
Cosquer Cave near Marseille. The 14th-century wooden ceiling of the cloister of
Fréjus Cathedral has a remarkable series of paintings of biblical scenes, fantastic animals, and scenes from daily life, painted between 1350 and 1360. They include paintings of a fallen angel with the wings of a bat, a demon with the tail of a serpent, angels playing instruments, a tiger, an elephant, an ostrich, domestic and wild animals, a mermaid, a dragon, a centaur, a butcher, a knight, and a juggler.
Nicolas Froment (1435–1486) was the most important painter of Provence during the
Renaissance, best known for his
triptych of the Burning Bush (c. 1476), commissioned by King
René I of Naples. The painting shows a combination of Moses, the Burning Bush, and the Virgin Mary "who gave birth but remained a virgin", just as the bush of Moses "-burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed". This is the explication according to a plaque in the cathedral. A more likely reason for the juxtaposition is that in 1400 a shepherd, or shepherds, discovered a miraculous statue of the Virgin and Child inside another burning bush (thorn bush specifically), in the village of L'Epine in the present day department of La Marne. The site and statue were later visited by the "Bon Roi René". The wings of the triptych show King René with
Mary Magdalene,
St. Anthony and
St. Maurice on one side, and Queen Jeanne de Laval, with
Saint Catherine,
John the Evangelist, and
Saint Nicholas on the other.
Louis Bréa (1450–1523) was a 15th-century painter, born in Nice, whose work is found in churches from Genoa to Antibes. His
Retable of Saint-Nicholas (1500) is found in
Monaco, and his
Retable de Notre-Dame-de-Rosaire (1515) is found in
Antibes.
Pierre Paul Puget (1620–1694), born in Marseille, was a painter of portraits and religious scenes, but was better known for his sculptures, found in
Toulon Cathedral, outside the
Hôtel de Ville of Toulon, and in the
Louvre. There is a mountain named for him near Marseille, and a square in Toulon. , ''L'Estaque'', 1883–1885 ,
Cafe Terrace at Night, September 1888 ,
The Port of Saint-Tropez, oil on canvas, 1901 In the 19th and 20th centuries, many of the most famous painters in the world converged on Provence, drawn by the climate and the clarity of the light. The special quality of the light is partly a result of the
Mistral (wind), which removes dust from the atmosphere, greatly increasing visibility. •
Adolphe Monticelli (1824–1886) was born in Marseille, moved to Paris in 1846 and returned to Marseille in 1870. His work influenced
Vincent van Gogh who greatly admired him. •
Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) was born in Aix-en-Provence, and lived and worked there most of his life. The local landscapes, particularly
Montagne Sainte-Victoire, featured often in his work. He also painted frequently at
L'Estaque. •
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) lived little more than two years in Provence, but his fame as a painter is largely a result of what he painted there. He lived in
Arles from February 1888 to May 1889, and then in Saint-Remy from May 1889 until May 1890. •
Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) visited
Beaulieu,
Grasse,
Saint Raphael and
Cannes, before finally settling in
Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1907, where he bought a farm in the hills and built a new house and workshop on the grounds. He continued to paint there until his death in 1919. His house is now a museum. •
Henri Matisse (1869–1954) first visited
St. Tropez in 1904. In 1917 he settled in Nice, first at the Hotel Beau Rivage, then the Hotel de la Mediterranée, then la Villa des Allies in
Cimiez. In 1921 he lived in an apartment at 1 Place Felix Faure in Nice, next to the flower market and overlooking the sea, where he lived until 1938. He then moved to the Hotel Regina in the hills of Cimiez, above Nice. During World War II he lived in
Vence, then returned to Cimiez, where he died and is buried. •
Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) spent each summer from 1919 to 1939 on the
Côte d'Azur, and moved there permanently in 1946, first at
Vallauris, then at
Mougins, where he spent his last years. •
Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) retired to and died at
Le Cannet. •
Georges Braque (1882–1963) painted frequently at
L'Estaque between 1907 and 1910. •
Henri-Edmond Cross (1856–1910) discovered the Côte d'Azur in 1883 and painted at
Monaco and
Hyères. •
Maurice Denis (1870–1943) painted at St. Tropez and
Bandol. •
André Derain (1880–1954) painted at L'Estaque and
Martigues. •
Raoul Dufy (1877–1953), whose wife was from Nice, painted in
Forcalquier, Marseille and Martigues. •
Albert Marquet (1873–1947) painted at Marseille, St. Tropez and L'Estaque. •
Claude Monet (1840–1927) visited Menton,
Bordighera,
Juan-les-Pins,
Monte Carlo, Nice,
Cannes,
Beaulieu and
Villefranche, and painted a number of seascapes of
Cap Martin, near Menton, and at
Cap d'Antibes. •
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) visited and painted in
Nice and
Monte Carlo (where he developed a passion for gambling), and rented a villa at
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in 1891. •
Paul Signac (1863–1935) visited St. Tropez in 1892, and bought a villa, La Hune, at the foot of citadel in 1897. It was at his villa that his friend, Henri Matisse, painted his famous
Luxe, Calme et Volupté" in 1904. Signac made numerous paintings along the coast. •
Pierre Deval (1897–1993), a French modernist and figurative painter, lived and worked at the
Domaine d'Orvès in
La Valette-du-Var from 1925 until his death in 1993. •
Nicolas de Staël (1914–1955) lived in Nice and
Antibes. •
Yves Klein (1928–1962), a native of
Nice, is considered an important figure in post-war European art. •
Sacha Sosno (1937–2013) is a French painter and sculptor living and working in Nice.
Source and Bibliography about artists on the Mediterranean •
Méditerranée de Courbet á Matisse, catalogue of the exhibit at the Grand Palais, Paris from September 2000 to January 2001. Published by the Réunion des musées nationaux, 2000.
Architecture Literature , from a collection of
troubadour songs,
BNF Richelieu Manuscrits Français 854,
Bibliothèque Nationale Française, Paris Historically, the language spoken in Provence was
Provençal, a dialect of the
Occitan language, also known as langue d'oc, and closely related to
Catalan. There are several regional variations:
vivaro-alpin, spoken in the Alps, and the Provençal variations of south, including the maritime, the rhoadanien (in the Rhône Valley) and the
Niçois (in Nice). Niçois is the archaic form of Provençal closest to the original language of the
troubadours, and is sometimes to said to be literary language of its own. Provençal was widely spoken in Provence until the beginning of the 20th century, when the French government launched an intensive and largely successful effort to replace regional languages with French. Today, Provençal is taught in schools and universities in the region, but is spoken regularly by a small number of people, probably less than 500,000, mostly elderly. ;Writers and poets in the Occitan language . Depicted in his episcopal robes. The golden age of
Provençal literature, more correctly called
Occitan literature, was the 11th century and the 12th century, when the troubadours broke away from classical
Latin literature and composed romances and love songs in their own vernacular language. Among the most famous troubadours was
Folquet de Marselha, whose love songs became famous all over Europe, and who was praised by
Dante in his
Divine Comedy. In his later years, Folquet gave up poetry to become the Abbot of
Thoronet Abbey, and then
Bishop of Toulouse, where he fiercely persecuted the
Cathars. In the middle of the 19th century, there was a literary movement to revive the language, called the
Félibrige, led by the poet
Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914), who shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904. Provençal writers and poets who wrote in Occitan include: •
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (1180–1207) •
Louis Bellaud (1543–1588) •
Théodore Aubanel (1829–1886) •
Joseph d'Arbaud (1874–1950) •
Robert Lafont (1923–2009) ;French authors •
Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897) was the best-known French writer from Provence in the 19th century, though he lived mostly in Paris and
Champrosay. He was best known for his
Lettres de mon moulin (Letters from My Windmill) (1869) and the
Tartarin of Tarascon trilogy (1872, 1885, 1890). His short story ''
L'Arlésienne'' (1872) was made into a three-act play with
incidental music by
Georges Bizet. •
Marcel Pagnol (1895–1970), born in Aubagne, is known both as a filmmaker and for his stories of his childhood,
Le Château de ma Mère,
La Gloire de mon Père, and
Le Temps des secrets. He was the first filmmaker to become a member of the in 1946. •
Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette) (1873–1954), although she was not from Provence, became particularly attached to
Saint-Tropez. After World War II, she headed a committee which saw that the village, badly damaged by the war, was restored to its original beauty and character •
Jean Giono (1895–1970), born in
Manosque, wrote about peasant life in Provence, inspired by his imagination and by his vision of ancient Greece. •
Paul Arène (1843–1896), born in
Sisteron, wrote about life and the countryside around his home town. ;Émigrés, exiles, and expatriates In the 19th and 20th centuries, the climate and lifestyle of Provence attracted writers almost as much as it attracted painters. It was particularly popular among British, American and Russian writers in the 1920s and 1930s. •
Edith Wharton (1862–1937), bought
Castel Sainte-Claire in 1927, on the site of a former convent in the hills above
Hyères, where she lived during the winters and springs until her death in 1937. •
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) and his wife Zelda first visited the Riviera in 1924, stopping at
Hyères,
Cannes and
Monte Carlo, eventually staying at
St. Raphaël, where he wrote much of
The Great Gatsby and began
Tender is the Night. •
Ivan Bunin (1870–1953), the first Russian writer to win the
Nobel Prize for Literature, went to France after the Russian Revolution, set several of his short stories on the
Côte d'Azur, and had a house in
Grasse. •
Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) bought a house, the Villa Mauresque, in
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in 1928, and, except for the years of World War II, spent much of his time there until his death. Other English-speaking writers who live in or have written about Provence include: •
Peter Mayle •
Carol Drinkwater •
John Lanchester •
Willa Cather •
Charles Spurgeon (who spent long periods in
Menton) •
Katherine Mansfield •
Lawrence Durrell ;Scientists, scholars and prophets •
Pytheas (4th century BCE) was a geographer and mathematician who lived in the Greek colony of Massalia, now Marseille. He conducted an expedition by sea north around Great Britain to Iceland, and was the first to describe the midnight sun and polar regions. •
Petrarch (1304–1374) was an Italian poet and scholar, considered the father of
humanism and one of the first great figures of
Italian literature. He spent much of his early life in
Avignon and
Carpentras as an official at the Papal court in Avignon, and wrote a famous account of his ascent of
Mount Ventoux near
Aix-en-Provence. •
Nostradamus (1503–1566), a Renaissance apothecary and reputed
clairvoyant best known for his alleged prophecies of great world events, was born in
Saint-Remy-de-Provence and lived and died in
Salon-de-Provence.
Music , born in Provence in 1892 Music written about Provence includes: • "Di Provenza il mar, il suol", an aria for baritone from
La traviata (Act 2) by
Giuseppe Verdi • The opera
Mireille by
Charles Gounod, after Frédéric Mistral's poem
Mirèio •
Georges Bizet' ''
L'Arlésienne'',
incidental music to
Alphonse Daudet's
eponymous play • ''
L'Arlesiana, an opera by Francesco Cilea, based on the play L'Arlésienne'' by Alphonse Daudet •
Darius Milhaud: ''Le Carnaval d'Aix
, Suite provençale, La Cheminée du roi René, Suite française
(5. Provence), Ouverture méditerranéenne'' • The
Tableaux de Provence (Pictures of Provence), a suite for alto saxophone and orchestra composed by
Paule Maurice •
Eugène Reuchsel:
Promenades en Provence,
Huit Images de Provence, for organ • The
Suite Provençale for concert band by
Jan Van der Roost • Two song settings of
Vladimir Nabokov's poem "Provence" in Russian and English versions by composers Ivan Barbotin and James DeMars on the 2011 contemporary classical album
Troika Cinema Provence has a special place in the history of the motion picture – one of the first projected motion pictures, ''
L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat (The Arrival of a Train into La Ciotat Station''), a fifty-second silent film, was made by
Auguste and Louis Lumière at the train station of the coastal town of
La Ciotat. It was shown to an audience in Paris on 28 December 1895, causing a sensation. Before its commercial premiere in Paris, the film was shown to invited audiences in several French cities, including La Ciotat. It was shown at the Eden Theater in September 1895, making that theatre one of the first motion picture theatres, and the only of the first theatres still showing movies in 2009. Three other of the earliest Lumiere films,
Partie de cartes, ''
l'Arroseur arrosé (the first known filmed comedy), and Repas de bébé'', were also filmed in La Ciotat in 1895, at the Villa du Clos des Plages, the summer residence of the Lumière Brothers.
Parks and gardens Cuisine The cuisine of Provence is the result of the warm, dry Mediterranean climate; the rugged landscape, good for grazing sheep and goats but, outside of the
Rhône Valley, poor soil for large-scale agriculture; and the abundant seafood on the coast. The basic ingredients are olives and olive oil, garlic, sardines, rockfish,
sea urchins and octopus, lamb and goat,
chickpeas, and local fruits, such as grapes, peaches, apricots, strawberries, cherries, and the famous melons of
Cavaillon. The fish frequently found on menus in Provence are the
rouget, a small red fish usually eaten grilled, and the
loup (known elsewhere in France as the
bar), often grilled with fennel over the wood of grapevines. •
Aïoli is a thick emulsion sauce made from olive oil flavoured with crushed garlic. It often accompanies a
bourride, a fish soup, or is served with potatoes and cod (fr.
Morue). There are many recipes. •
Bouillabaisse is the classic seafood dish of Marseille. The traditional version is made with three fish:
scorpionfish,
sea robin, and
European conger, plus an assortment of other fish and shellfish, such as
John Dory, monkfish, sea urchins, crabs and
sea spiders included for flavour. The seasoning is as important as the fish, including salt,
pepper, onion, tomato, saffron, fennel, sage, thyme, bay laurel, sometimes orange peel, and a cup of white wine or cognac. In Marseille the fish and the broth are served separately—the broth is served over thick slices of bread with
rouille (see below). •
Brandade de morue is a thick purée of salt cod, olive oil, milk, and garlic, usually spread on toast. •
Daube provençale is a stew made with cubed beef braised in wine, vegetables, garlic, and
herbes de provence. Variations also call for olives, prunes, and flavouring with duck fat, vinegar, brandy, lavender, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, juniper berries, or orange peel. For best flavour, it is cooked in several stages, and cooled for a day between each stage to allow the flavours to meld together. In the
Camargue area of France, bulls killed in the bullfighting festivals are sometimes used for
daube. •
Fougasse is the traditional bread of Provence, round and flat with holes cut out by the baker. Modern versions are baked with olives or other fillings inside. It is roughly equivalent to
focaccia. •
Pissaladière is another speciality of Nice. Though it resembles a pizza, it is made with bread dough and the traditional variety never has a tomato topping. It is usually sold in bakeries, and is topped with a bed of onions, lightly browned, and a kind of paste, called
pissalat, made from sardines and anchovies, and the small black
olives of Nice, of the
Cailletier or Taggiasca variety, also found in Liguria. •
Ratatouille is a traditional dish of stewed vegetables, which originated in Nice. •
Panisse is a dish made of chickpea flour, which is boiled into a paste, cooled and set into a mould, and then fried. It is not dissimilar to socca. File:Allioli.jpg|An
aioli made of garlic, salt, egg yolk and olive oil File:Bullabessa.jpg|A traditional
bouillabaisse from Marseille, soup and fish served separately File:Brandada de Bacalao - 098.jpg|
Brandade de morue, a dish of salt cod and olive oil mashed with potatoes or bread in winter File:Daube de boeuf.JPG|
Daube, or Provençal beef stew, cooked in wine File:Pissaladiera.jpg|
Pissaladière File:Ratatouille02.jpg|A bowl of
ratatouille with bread File:Socca in Nice.jpg|
Socca of Nice, also known as
Farinata in Liguria and parts of Tuscany,
La Cade in
Toulon or
Marseille File:Calisson.jpg|
Calissons from Aix •
Rouille is a mayonnaise with red
pimentos, often spread onto bread and added to fish soups. •
Tapenade is a relish consisting of pureed or finely chopped olives, capers, and olive oil, usually spread onto bread and served as an hors d'œuvre. • The
Thirteen desserts is a Christmas tradition in Provence, when thirteen different dishes, representing Jesus and the twelve apostles, and each with a different significance, are served after the large Christmas meal. •
Herbes de Provence (or Provençal herbs) are a mixture of fresh or dried herbs from Provence which are commonly used in Provençal cooking.
Wines The
wines of Provence were probably introduced into Provence around 600 BC by the Greek
Phoceans who founded Marseille and Nice. After the Roman occupation, in 120 BC the
Roman Senate forbade the growing of vines and olives in Provence, to protect the profitable trade in exporting Italian wines, but in the late Roman empire retired soldiers from
Roman Legions settled in Provence and were allowed to grow grapes. The Romans complained about the competition from and poor quality of the wines of Provence. In the 1st century AD the Roman poet
Martial condemned the wines of Marseille as "terrible poisons, and never sold at a good price." As recently as the 1970s the wines of Provence had the reputation of being rather ordinary: In 1971 wine critic
Hugh Johnson wrote: "The whites are dry and can lack the acidity to be refreshing; the reds are straightforward, strong and a trifle dull; it is usually the
rosés, often orange-tinted, which have most appeal." He added, "Cassis and Bandol distinguish themselves for their white and red wines respectively. Cassis (no relation of the blackcurrant syrup) is livelier than the run of Provençal white wine, and Bandol leads the red in much the same way." Since that time, cultivation of poorer varieties has been reduced and new technologies and methods have improved the quality considerably. The wines of Provence are grown under demanding conditions; hot weather and abundant sunshine (Toulon, near Bandol, has the most sunshine of any city in France) which ripens the grapes quickly; little rain, and the mistral. The great majority of the wines produced in Provence are rosés. The most characteristic grape is
mourvèdre, used most famously in the red wines of Bandol. Cassis is the only area in Provence known for its white wines. There are three regional classifications (
Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC)) in Provence: •
AOC Côtes de Provence dates to 1997, though these wines were recognised in the 17th and 18th centuries, notably by
Madame de Sévigné, who reported the habits and preferred wines of the Court of
Louis XIV. The title Côtes de Provence was already in use in 1848, but production was nearly destroyed by
phylloxera later in that century, and took decades to recover. The appellation today covers 84 communes in Var and
Bouches-du-Rhône, and one in
Alpes-Maritimes. The principal grapes used in the red wines are
grenache, mourvèdre,
cinsault,
tibouren, and
syrah. For the white wines,
clairette,
vermentino,
sémillon, and
ugni blanc. The appellation covers . 80 percent of the production is rosé wine, fifteen percent is red wine, and 5 percent white wine. • ''AOC Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence
was classified in 1985. The wines of Aix were originally planted by veterans of the Roman legions in the 1st century BC, and were promoted in the 15th century by René I of Naples, the last ruler of Provence. Most vineyards were destroyed by phylloxera'' in the 19th century, and very slowly were reconstituted. The principal grapes for red wines and rosés are grenache, mourvèdre, cinsault, syrah,
counoise,
carignan, and
cabernet sauvignon. White wines are made mainly with
bourboulenc, clairette,
grenache blanc, and vermentino. There are in production. 70 percent of the wines are rosés, 25 percent red wines, and 5 percent white wines. •
AOC Coteaux varois en Provence is a recent AOC in Provence. The name Coteaux Varois was first used in 1945, and became an AOC in 1993. The name was changed to Couteaux Varois en Provence in 2005. The red wines principally use grenache, cinsaut, mourvèdre, and syrah grapes. White wines use clairette, grenache blanc, rolle blanc, sémillon, and ugni blanc. There are in this AOL. It produces 80 percent rosés, 17 percent red wines, and 3 percent white wines. In addition, there are five local classifications (
Les appellations locales): •
Bandol AOC, grown in the department of Var on the coast west of Toulon, mostly around the villages of
La Cadiere d'Azur and
Castellet. Wines of this appellation must have at least fifty percent mourvèdre grapes, though most have considerably more. Other grapes used are grenache, cinsault, syrah, and carignan. •
AOC Cassis, made near the coastal town of
Cassis, between Toulon and Marseille, was the first wine in Provence to be classified as an AOC in 1936, and is best known for its white wines. Wines from Cassis are described in French literature as early as the 12th century. The grapes most commonly used are
marsanne, clairette,
ugni blanc,
sauvignon blanc, and
Bourboulenc. Rosé wines use grenache, carignan, and mourvèdre. • AOC
Bellet; at the time of the French Revolution, the little town of Saint Roman de Bellet (now part of Nice) was the center of an important wine region. Production was nearly destroyed by
phylloxera and by the two wars, and only in 1946 was the region again producing fully. It was classified as an AOC in 1941. Today the region is one of the smallest in France; just 47 hectares. The grapes are grown on terraces along the left bank of the Var River, east of the town. The major grapes grown for red wines and rosés are
braquet,
Folle, and cinsault, blended sometimes with grenache. For white wines, the major grapes grown are
rolle blanc,
roussane,
spagnol, and
mayorquin; the secondary grapes are clairette,
bourboulenc,
chardonnay,
pignerol, and
muscat. •
Palette AOC; the little village of
Palete, four kilometres east of Aix-en-Provence, has long been famous for the production of a
vin cuit, or
fortified wine, used in the traditional Provence Christmas dessert, the
Thirteen desserts, and the Christmas cake called ''pompo à l'oli'', or the olive-oil pump. This production was nearly abandoned, but is now being recreated. The main grapes for red wine are grenache, mourvèdre, and
cinsaut; for the white wines clairette. • AOC
Les Baux de Provence; was established as an AOC for red and rosé wines in 1995. South of Avignon, it occupies the north and south slopes of the
Alpilles, up to an altitude of , and extends about thirty kilometres from east to west. The principal grapes for the red wines are grenache, mourvèdre, and syrah. For the rosés, the main grapes are syrah and cinsault.
Pastis Pastis is the traditional liqueur of Provence, flavoured with
anise and typically containing 40–45% alcohol by volume. When
absinthe was banned in France in 1915, the major absinthe producers (then
Pernod Fils and
Ricard, who have since merged as
Pernod Ricard) reformulated their drink without the banned
wormwood and with more aniseed flavour, coming from
star anise, sugar and a lower alcohol content, creating pastis. It is usually drunk diluted with water, which it turns a cloudy color. It is especially popular in and around Marseille.
Sports Pétanque, a form of
boules, is a popular sport played in towns and villages all over Provence. A more athletic version of the sport called
jeu provençal was popular throughout Provence in the 19th century – this version is featured in the novels and memoires of Marcel Pagnol; players ran three steps before throwing the ball, and it resembled at times a form of ballet. The modern version of the game was created in 1907 at the town of
La Ciotat by a former champion of
jeu provençal named Jules Hugues, who was unable to play because of his rheumatism. He devised a new set of rules where the field was much smaller, and players did not run before throwing the ball, but remained inside a small circle with their feet together. This gave the game its name,
lei peds tancats, in the
Provençal dialect of
Occitan, 'feet together'. The first tournament was played in La Ciotat in 1910. The first steel boules were introduced in 1927. The object is to throw a ball (boule) as close as possible to a smaller ball, called the cochonnet, (this kind of throw is called to
faire le point or
pointer); or to knock away a boules of the opponent that is close to the cochonnet (this is called to
tirer). Players compete one-on-one (
tête-à-tête), in teams of two (
doublettes) or teams of three (
triplettes). The object is to accumulate thirteen points. The point belongs to the ball the closest to the cochonnet. A player pitches balls until he can regain the point (
reprenne le point) by having his ball closest to the cochonnet. Each ball from a single team, if there are no other balls from the other team closer to the cochonnet, counts as a point. The points are counted when all of the balls have been tossed by both teams. ==Gallery==