jetjunkies

May 8, 2019

Up fairly early, but pretty low energy, which always seems to be the case right after a travel day. Got ourselves up and dressed, then headed out to find a little breakfast. Last nights dinner was so rich that my stomach and I decided simple was better. Suzanne was a good sport and agreed to go looking for someplace other than the hotel, that wanted 17 euros or $19 for the traditional hotel breakfast buffet.

It was eerily quiet on the streets and we discovered today is a National holiday, Victory Day. We were lucky to find this wonderful looking bakery (patisserie). Suzanne had a raisin sweet roll with coffee and I had a delicious apple turnover with tea. Now that’s a perfect French breakfast. The bakery also makes cakes and the most fanciful chocolate creations.

Feeling fortified I was unwittingly lured on a mammoth walk up the hill. We planned on seeing the Chagall and Matisse Museums today, taxiing up and walking back down. Well, we ended up walking up and busing partway down. The buildings here are so substantial and monumental looking. We walked through several different neighborhoods and enjoyed looking at all the different styles of structures.

The building below is a Greek Orthodox Church.

Saw this little house on the hill. It is for sale, but is a little too close to the freeway.

Think this building is a condo or apartment building. Very nice area on the hill with high fences for security and privacy.

About halfway up the hill we came to the Chagall Museum. The museum was opened in 1973, Chagall celebrated his 86th birthday the same day as the opening. It was the first time a National museum had been dedicated to a living artist. The photo below gives an idea of size of the large paintings depicting scenes inspired by the Bible.

This painting is of the story of Abraham and the Three Angels, divine messengers announcing to the elderly Abraham and Sarah the imminent birth of a son.

This painting is of the creation of man with the angel holding Adam.

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel in his dream.

‘Paradise’ the painting below shows two scenes, one set in Paradise and one on Earth. To the left is the creation of Eve and to the right the temptation. As you can see on the right Adam is with Eve and they are so close as to almost appear as one. This is an interpretation of the temptation showing Adam as responsible as Eve for the fall.

Adam and Eve Expelled From Paradise sows discord in Paradise. Trees are uprooted, birds have goats heads, heads are upside down and winged fish surge from the river. The angel of divine wrath drives Adam and Eve out.

Chagall created an huge tile mosaic above a reflecting pond at the museum. Below the mosaic are two beautiful stain glass windows.

Onward up to the top of the hill to the Matisse museum, which is located next to the ruins of a Roman amphitheater and children’s small amusement park.

The featured photo is of Matisse’s ‘Odalisque au coffret rouge’, painted in 1927. Both Chagall and Matisse lived in Nice and enjoyed working in it’s beautiful light.

This is a small art school of Matisse that is located in the museum up several flights of stairs. The second photo below is of student studies of one of Matisse’s paintings.

The photo below is from the Fauvism school of painting, where brazen colors were used for expressive impact.

Henri Matisse married Amelie Matisse and they celebrated their marriage with a few weeks in Corsica, before heading for the Toulouse region of France. This was Matisse’s first experience of the Southern light, that allowed him to break free into Impressionism. Here is a painting of Amelie.

These are a few of the pieces that were created for a book Matisse did, called Jazz.

Bronze sculptures, the first being titled ‘The Serf’. It is believed by some experts that the same model was used by Matisse for this work as Rodin used for his sculptures.

These pieces of work consist of paper cutouts that Matisse created for various compositions.

This was an interesting series of studies of lips, drawings, models and sculptures.

Partway down the hill I had enough and we caught a bus into the center of town. We stopped for lunch at a Pizzeria and had our only bad meal so far. The it was back to the hotel to plan for tomorrow’s adventure.