O f all the artists who lived or temporarily resided in Nice, Henri Matisse contributed the most to the city’s artistic glory. The leader of the Fauvism movement, who managed like no one before him to make col- ours “sing so loudly” and who was regarded by Picasso as his greatest rival, Matisse spent more than thirty years living in Nice. The place to get acquainted with Matisse is certainly his museum on Cimiez Hill above Nice, in the villa where he lived, which contains one of the world’s largest collections of this painter’s works and traces his evo- lution from the beginning
to his last work. You should then head to the nearby Vence and visit the Rosary (La Chapelle du Rosaire), which was fully dec- orated by Matisse as an act of gratitude to the Dominican sis- ters who took care of him during his illness. Paintings, furni- ture, glassworks – he did everything during that time when he was already in his eighties. He was already a successful artist when he arrived in Nice in December 1917. He was 48 and su ering from severe bronchitis. He booked a room in a seaside hotel for a month, but it rained for almost the entire month, so he sadly
Na samoj obali Sredozemnog mora, Nica ima divnu klimu preko cele godine Situated right on the coast of the Mediterranean, Nice has a wonderful climate throughout the year
painted the interior of his dramat- ic hotel room over and over again. And then, on the last day, the sun came out and washed everything in magical colours. Matisse fell irrevo- cably in love:“I came to Nice to heal myself, and it rained for a month. I nally decided to leave. The next day the mistral wind drove away the clouds and it was so beautiful that I decided to stay forever.” He relocated permanently to Nice during that winter of 1921, taking up residence in a large yel- low building at the top of a hill above Nice, where he would spent the next 17 years living and painting – represent- ing his most fruitful and joyous peri- od. It wasn’t until 1938 that he moved to Cimiez, where he bought two large apartments that would later become his museum. It is open every day except Tuesdays, from 10am to 6pm. Ten years later, it was the turn of Mark Chagall. It was 47 years ago, on Docteur Ménard Avenue, at the spot where Cimiez Boulevard starts to rise, that he personally oversaw the con- struction of the museum that would
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