Matisse on the French Riviera

Matisse fell in love with Nice during his first stay in 1916. Since then, he's going to spend every winter there, until 1938, when he settles in the city definitively.

In Nice, Matisse worked in several studios before buying an appartement in Cimiez area. Close by, was openned a museum dedicated to his work. It shows the diversity of the work of Matisse, from the begining and the copies he did in the Louvres, to the reveal of the color of the Fauve period, his love of women, or the cut papers. All the gouaches and models of the Chapel are displayed in the last part of the museum.

Then visit in vence the Chapel of the Rosary, ended in 1951, when Matisse was very ill, gift to the Dominican sisters. The chapel is a synthesis of his work. Extreme simplicity of the lines and shapes, white stone lighted by yellow, blue and green stain glass windows.

A life for searching and hard work to say : 'Matisse, it's only this !'