Antibes - Juan les Pins (cont'd)
The Château Grimaldi, built in the 12th century on Roman foundations, houses the Musée Picasso. After the town had bought the château in 1926, it was restored and converted for use as a museum. When Pablo Picasso came to town in 1946 he was invited to stay in the château. The six months Picasso worked here were one of his most productive. He created paintings, drawings as well as ceramics and tapestries and donated all his works to the museum.
A Time Magazine article from October 6, 1947 reports: Antibes' Mayor Jean Pastour, who despised Picasso's work but recognized its market value, had raised the admission price to the castle from 5 to 30 francs. Last week's visitors got their 30 francs' worth: they found 65-year-old Picasso himself pacing before his pictures, looking for all the world like an aging lifeguard. Among the admiring callers at the castle was Chitchatter Elsa Maxwell. "My old and affectionate friendship for Pablo Picasso," she burbled in next day's column, "is too well known to dwell upon. Our friendship during 27 years has always been full of surprises. ... I have always thought Picasso's blue period to be his best until yesterday, when I went to the Grimaldi Museum. ... I had seen quite a bit of Picasso in Paris this winter. When I asked him to come to America and told him about the money he would make there, he shrugged his expressive Latin shoulders, saying: Elsa, I hate the sea and I hate money, and I have been working in the Museum at Antibes on what I believe is my best work."
Today, the Musée Picasso holds the second largest collection of Picasso's works in France. The museum also exhibits paintings of the Russian born artist Nicholas de Staël, who committed suicide in Antibes in 1955, and works of contemporary artists, including some interesting sculptures, on a terrace above the sea. After extensive renovations the museum is scheduled to reopen in summer 2008.
France's Picasso Museums
There are three Picasso museums in France: Paris, Antibes and Valauris.
Picasso spent much of the first half of the 20th century working in Paris. In lieu of paying estate taxes after his death in 1973, his heirs turned over hundreds of Picasso works to the French Government. The Musée National Picasso in Paris, exhibits more than 250 0f his paintings, 1.500 sketches, 150 sculptures, as well as collages and ceramics.
In 1946 Picasso spent six months working in the Château Grimaldi in Antibes. It now houses the Musée Picasso with about 300 of his works, including "La Joie de Vivre" (see above photo) and a fine ceramics display.
The smaller Musée National Picasso La Guerre et la Paix and the adjoining Musée Municipal de la Céramique et d'Art Moderne, are in Vallauris, about 10 miles east of Antibes. In 1952, Picasso painted a monumental fresco called "La Guerre et la Paix" on the walls and ceilings of the town's 16th century chapel.
Atop the Promenade Amiral de Grasse is the 17th century fortress Bastion Saint André, which houses the Musée d'Archéologie displaying artifacts from Greek and Roman times found in local digs and shipwrecks. The views of the sea and towards Cap d'Antibes from its ramparts are pretty spectacular. The nearby Plage de la Gravette is a good place to swim but fills up quickly during school holidays.
Port Vauban is the huge modern yacht harbour next to Vieille Antibes, one of the largest in Europe. This used to be the old port which the Greeks established, the Romans expanded and where centuries later Crusaders left for Palestine. But next to nothing is left of those times. On a promontory overlooking Port Vauban stands the 16th century Fort Carré, a massive, star-shaped fortress used by the French military until 1967. The town purchased it in 1997 and it is now being used as a youth and sports center.
There is a small museum worth your visit if you want to delve a bit deeper into local history and traditions, the Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires. Of a similar nature is the Musée de la Tour in the Tour Gilli on the Cours Masséna, which exhibits costumes, tools, photographs and other objects used by the local people from the 20th century. Finally, on Place Nationale, is a museum exhibiting the drawings of Raymond Peynet (1908-1999), the creator of the "les amoureux" series of sentimental pictures.
Outside Antibes to the north is Marineland, Europe's first marine zoo with dolphins, orcas, penguins, seals and sea lions. Their marine exhibition includes a model of Columbus' Santa Maria made from more than 1 million matchsticks. Close to Marineland are several amusement parks.
