"Sunny place for shady people" – that's how the French Riviera was once described in the early 20th century.
Yet for creative individuals, the Côte d'Azur has undoubtedly always been a place of special inspiration. The idea of a Golden Age of humanity, the thought that somewhere there exists a paradisiacal place, a land of eternal happiness – Arcadia – has captivated the minds of poets and artists since the time of Virgil.
"Luxe, calme et volupté"– luxury, calm, and pleasure – this very phrase from Charles Baudelaire's poem 'Invitation to the Voyage,' a phrase that perfectly describes the atmosphere of the Côte d'Azur, was used by Henri Matisse for the title of his famous painting, created in 1904 in Saint-Tropez.
In the late 19th century, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Paul Signac were the first to find their idyllic Arcadia in the south of their native France, on the Mediterranean coast. Soon they were joined by early 20th-century modernists – Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Chaim Soutine, André Derain, Pierre Bonnard, Raoul Dufy, Kees van Dongen, the aforementioned Henri Matisse, and others. Edvard Munch and Amedeo Modigliani, Georges Braque and Marcel Duchamp, George Grosz and Paul Klee also visited here.
Escapism, the desire to flee the urban bustle of noisy Paris, intensified with the outbreak of the First World War. Consequently, by the early 1920s, the French Riviera became the permanent residence for almost all prominent artists of that era.
A talk about French and other European artists who worked on the Riviera will be given by Dr. of Art History, Natalia Evseeva.
And to fully immerse yourselves in the summer atmosphere of the azure coast, the lecture will be accompanied by a tasting of Provencal rosé wines, with a commentary from a sommelier.
The program includes: a fascinating lecture, a rosé wine tasting, and light snacks.
The events are held in Russian for persons over 18 years of age.
