It’s Renoir’s birthday today which has prompted me to write a little about his final home at Cagnes, now the Musée Renoir. It’s easily do-able from Aix and a must once this wave of cold weather has ended. A sunny day is ideal as the views from his terrace are lovely.
This post card shows the villa, newly-built for the artist and his family. It looks much the same today except that palm tree is massive.
‘Domaine les Collettes’, was to be Renoir’s home for the last 12 years of his life. He moved in during 1908 with his wife Aline and three sons. The warm climate went some way to helping his increasingly severe arthritis and the studio space was ideal.
His studio: to stand alone in the studio of one of the founders of Impressionism is one of Provence’s unforgettable experiences. It’s a large
north-facing room where his wicker wheelchair is in front of the easel and his palette, box of colours and brushes are still in place. The chaise longue in front of the fireplace is empty though – back in the day, a series of young servants and girls from Cagnes would have been installed there to pose for the elderly artist. The era is brought to flickering life by a precious few minutes of sepia film playing across the studio walls. It shows Renoir’s assistant pushing the brush between the clawed fingers of the frail old man, but not before he had first given him a cigarette and lit it! He worked here until the last day of his life, 3rd December 1919 when he was 78.
His Home: visitors can wander around his kitchen, dining room, living rooms and upstairs into the bedrooms. Lucky Aline had a corner bedroom with views down to Nice and across to the Mediterranean.
Renoir’s dining room where he entertained visitors such as Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Raoul Dufy, Rodin, Modigliani and many Provencal painters who visited the Master.
In fact the Renoir descendants lived in the house until the 1960s. A subsequent renovation has identified fragments of wallpaper and fabrics so that the rooms and furnishings are close to how they would have looked when their illustrious ancestor lived and worked there.
Works on view: the Musée Renoir has fourteen original canvases from this time showing the villa and olive trees as well as ‘Les Grandes Bagneuses’ painted in 1903 which now hangs above his bed. There are also portraits and busts of Renoir by his friends.
The gardens: the warm hillside is peppered with ancient olive trees – they are several centuries old and Renoir struggled to paint them.
‘The olive tree, what a brute. If you realised how much trouble it has caused me. A tree full of colours. Not great at all. Its little leaves how they’ve made me sweat! A gust of wind and my tree’s tonality changes. The colour isn’t on the leaves, but in the spaces in between them. I know I can’t paint nature but enjoy struggling with it’.
The farmhouse is still to be seen at one end of the garden – visitors can go inside for films on the artist
Visiting: When we first visited, years ago, parking was by the side of the narrow road and tickets were bought at the door. Now there has been a complete overhaul of visitor facilities. There is a large car park and a spacious visitor centre has been tucked discreetly into the hillside below the villa. Here you can buy tickets and books.
At this time of year, it is open Wed-Mon, 10-12, 14-17. http://www.frenchriviera-tourism.com/culture/musee-renoir-cagnes-sur-mer-N4fiche_PCUPAC0060000004-rub_1.html#!prettyPhoto
Definitely worth visiting before the summer season. We visited off-season and so I had the house to myself which was so very memorable.
aixcentric 
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