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Easter Sunday Mass was celebrated at ‘La grotte de Sainte-Baume’ at the weekend to formally re-open the cave of Saint Mary Magdalene after its being closed for 10 months’ work. (more…)

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It was a snowy February in 1888, when Vincent Van Gogh left Paris to settle in Arles: he hoped to enjoy an idyll of colourful nature in the south, but brought with him his fascination for Japanese culture and its distinctive artistic style.

He couldn’t afford sitters so used to paint his neighbours; and it is a drawing of a young girl from Arles that is going on sale tomorrow at Christies in New York. ‘La Mousmé is’, he wrote to his brother Theo, ‘a Japanese girl – Provencal in this case’.

It’s expected to fetch 7-10 million dollars.

Also for sale, ‘Scene de rue a Montmartre‘ which he painted before leaving Paris. It has been owned by the same family since 1920 so not seen in public for a hundred years.  It goes on sale at Sotheby’s on March 25th.  Thanks to Julia for this info.

Vincent van Gogh’s Scène de rue à Montmartre/Montmartre Street Scene (Impasse des Deux Frères et le Moulin à Poivre) (February-April 1887) Courtesy of Sotheby’s/ArtDigital Studio

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Work is progressing on the transformation of Marseille’s Villa Mediterranée to become a showcase for a reproduction of the Grotte Cosquer.

This is a cave of ancient art, 37m deep under the sea near the calanque de Morgiou, and reachable by intrepid divers who have to negotiate a pitch-black 175m tunnel. Film here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IacB-F1k_E

The sea level has risen hugely since pre-historic people walked into this cave for shelter.  Melting ice across the continent deluged the area, bringing water into the cave and submerging 5km of shore and land in front of it.  There seem to have been 2 waves of inhabitants – the first have left 65 hand-prints (27,000 years old) and the second 177 drawings of animals (19,000 years old).  These include horses, bison and deer as well as ice-age creatures like seals and penguins.

Apparently the sea-level is still rising and will eventually submerge the cavern with its ancient drawings.

So it’s wonderful for posterity that this is being precisely and convincingly recreated by specialists involved at Lascaux and more recently in the Ardeche caves.  A centimetre-by-centimetre reconstruction will allow us all the opportunity to experience what the divers saw, from the safety of little open-top carriages which will move visitors around the ‘cave’.

Here’s an insight into progress so far: https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/102031-000-A/la-nouvelle-grotte-cosquer/

Expected date of opening – June 2022.

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