The famous lighthouse church in Collioure
I feel very art-inspired after yesterday's blog post on Salvador Dalí - well, how can you not in this area of France? I wrote about Céret in an earlier post, where many famous painters have lived and worked:
The same can be said of Collioure, also the home of some of the greatest painters in the world! Obviously they loved the region. Every time I go to Collioure (I was there on Sunday) I say: "There's something about the light here." And if I can notice a special light, I'm sure artists can. This is The Art Town Itself! The Most Inspirational Village on the French Coast! The Birthplace of Fauvism!
Strong colours, simplification, wild brush strokes, suggestive - almost abstract, and pointillism. Fauvism was a movement that really only lasted a few years, but it had great impact on art history. Because it's beautiful, playful, understandable and it appeals to positive emotions! Have a look at the above link, and you'll spot several pictures from Collioure. Henri Matisse was one of the main leaders of Fauvism:
Raoul Dufy
You can walk around Collioure and see for yourself where the different artists stood with their canvases and which motifs they painted. I have photographed the above paintings in the exact places where they've been created and then hung, and they're all over town. It's a fun treasure hunt to stroll around and try to find the paintings!
Oh - I have so many photos from colourful Collioure that I hardly know where to begin choosing! I love the narrow cobblestoned streets and the meticulous way the inhabitants take care of their very special town - so proud to live in the most picturesque place on the French Mediterranean Coast. La Côte Vermeille is the name of this coastline - the Red Coast. (Vermilion actually, but let's call it red).
I have bought art in Collioure. Well, not a Fauvist painting (oh, how I wish I could afford one!), but works by a few modern artists. The alleys crawl with art galleries, and it takes real effort and discipline not to go into every one of them and come out with stacks of oils, lithographs and aquarelles.
My favourite gallery in Collioure - Galerie de la Faneille - had suddenly closed down last year and I have absolutely no idea where the owners - the Oppers - have gone. She was French, he was American. They created beautiful jewellery from handblown glass beads, and I do not exaggerate when I say I was their most faithful customer. When I get back to Oslo I promise to post pictures of some of the exquisite things I bought from them.
Painted by Marie-José Opper
Mr Opper once threw a glass bead right through the gallery so that it ricocheted off the walls and went bouncing through the door and down the cobblestones. All to prove how strong that handblown glass was. Only once did a bead of one of my bracelets crack, and when I brought it back he was nearly heartbroken. And replaced it of course - for free - like he replaced several of my lost earrings. Oh yes - I do wonder where the Oppers went.... (And the lost earrings....)
Hmmm.... boats again....
I'm returning to Norway tomorrow. I can't really say "returning home", because my home is here in France too. But I do want to go back to my daughters and granddaughters and my friends, and I think something is said by the fact that I'm now posting a picture of my babies acting up as "Gangsta Girls"! Well, have you ever seen such cute gangsta? I don't think so!
And talking of jewellery - and talking of playing up - here's Big Mama leading them on! We went on a LONG road trip a couple of years ago, and we had to do something to pass the time! Mira's newly acquired Barbie-style doll had very wobbly and bad legs - poor "Barbie" lost them in fact - so they were replaced by my gold bracelet. So this is "Golden Barb" with even wobblier legs!:
Ohhh, that beautiful place, ahhh, those beautiful ear rings, awww, those beautiful gangsta girls :-)
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