Finally, today, got to visit the Fondation Monticelli which is on the coast, west of Marseille, between L’Estaque and Le Rove. And what a gallery it is!
It started life as a fort, built in 1861 and standing high on the hillside to defend the coast. It fell into disrepair and was squatted and graffitied – until it was renovated and opened in 2010 as a home for a collection of paintings by Monticelli. He was a 19th century Marseille-born artist whose love of colour inspired Van Gogh. His paintings are on the ground floor of the gallery.
Upstairs is a temporary exhibition of Charles Camoin (1879-1965), also born in Marseille and another joyous colourist.
It was quite hard, though, to concentrate on the paintings with such amazing views through those beautiful arched windows: a sun-drenched panorama of Marseille, la Bonne Mère, the docks, massive white cruise ships, the yachts at L’Estaque….
But these were the very views that inspired Camoin. He loved the area and painted in Marseilles his native town, in Cassis and in St Tropez. He had a studio in Paris from where he painted local sights (below).
His are brightly coloured paintings, beautiful in this sun-filled gallery.
I thought I was making this exhibition just in time as it was supposed to end 30th September, but it is being held over until 7th October. The gallery director will be giving a guided tour at 15:00 on 5th October.
Fondation Monticelli has a very large free car park from where it is a short walk to the gallery. It’s open Wed-Sun, 10-17:00hrs. L’Estaque is a short car-ride down the hill and has quite a few restaurants and cafés – especially good if you like local fish.
There is a walking trail of panels linking the places artists chose to paint from. More info: http://www.marseille-tourisme.com/en/discover-marseille/city-of-art/lestaque-and-its-painters/ The panels show old photos of L’Estaque and the coast. It’s striking how much simpler the landscapes were then, with unobstructed views free of the clutter of cars, yachts, big trees, hoardings, parking signs, shops, dockland cranes. A beautiful coast which Camoin delighted in capturing, as this small expo shows.
aixcentric 
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