Nietzsche
was not the only one to fall in love with this "French
paradise", for the French
Riviera is a great seductress. It has won over
the hearts of many painters, from Impressionists such
as Renoir, Monet and Signac to modern painters such
as Picasso, Léger, Braque and Miró. Henri
Matisse, who suffered from bronchitis, moved to Nice,
in 1917, where he painted bright canvases drenched in
the luxurious colours of the Midi. American authors
such as Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), who wrote The
Great Gatsby, and British writers such as Somerset
Maugham (1874-1965) were also irresistibly drawn to
the Coast.
Many
years after the death, in Cannes in 1870, of the French
author, Prosper Mérimée, the creator of
Carmen, and after the great novelist Colette
had taken up her summer residence near the tiny harbour
town of Saint-Tropez, André Gide (1869-1951)
succumbed to the charms of the village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence,
near Grasse. Even to this day, the Hotel-Restaurant
La Colombe d'Or, built on the village square
of this ancient 16th century fortified hamlet, still
welcomes contemporary artists retracing the footsteps
of the Hotel's first guests, Picasso, Modigliani and
Greta Garbo. While the days may be gone when French
cinema's most loved couple, Simone Signoret and Yves
Montand, celebrated their wedding there, the owners
of La Colombe d'Or still play host to some of
show-business's most celebrated names, such as Elizabeth
Taylor and Daniel Auteuil. |
he
French dictionary "Le Petit Robert" is quite categorical:
the
