One of the places we visited on our recent trip to the south of France was the Renoir Museum.
The musuem is housed in the Renoir family home in Cagnes-sur-Mer, there is a reconstruction of Renoir’s studio where the painter spent the last years of his life and it holds many personal possessions, paintings and sculptures.
The house is a neo-Provençal building designed by the architect Jules Febvre in 1907 and is set in an olive grove and where the painter lived until his death in 1919. In 1960, the house became a municipal museum featuring the family’s furniture and fourteen original paintings and thirty sculptures by Renoir. The grounds contain beautiful old olive trees, orange and lemon trees and a rose garden and there is a wonderful view of the Haut-de-Cagnes, a very pretty French hilltop village.
I’m now just going to let the photos do the talking!
These were my two favourite paintings, I loved the apples, the light in the room in which this painting was hanging was amazing and the colours just stood out, I would really love to have this hanging on one of my walls!
The other painting looking out towards the Haut-de-Cagnes is a very beautiful painting too, I love the fact that I actually stood in the exact spot that Renoir stood to paint it. The two old olive trees are still there, they must be very old as the painting was painted 100 years ago and they were quite mature trees then.
As I’m never going to own either of these masterpieces I treated myself to postcards of them.
It was a wonderful day out, the house was amazing, what a fantastic place to live surrounded by an olive grove with that brilliant Riviera light!
25 comments
What a wonderful place and house and how amazing to see the paintings.Maybe one day ill be lucky enough to visit!
Lucky Renoir to have lived in such a lovely place and lucky you to have visited it. Renoir was born and spent his early life in Limoges which we used to visit every week for our shopping but the house there was nothing like as lovely as the Provencal one! Just think with your postcards you could frame them and hang them without needing all that security stuff – enjoy the memories of the real things but also having the little facimiles in your home.
Thanks!
What a wonderful place to visit! I have never been there so thank you for sharing this Vivienne!
I am looking forward to catching up now with all the posts I’ve missed! As its cold and raining now, I’m going to enjoy seeing more blue sky photos of France!
Gill xx
Bonjour !!! Glad you enjoyed your days in the south of France. That’s a lovely place…. i’ve never visited his house but I know Cagnes-sur-Mer. Looking forward your next show … have a nice day ! take care
Drinking my morning tea and enjoying your tour of Renoir’s home and garden. Merci bien, Vivienne!!
Anne xx
Oh Vivienne, Thank you thank you that was amazing! The house, rooms and surroundings were stunning! Love that one really large old tree! (great photo) What a life that must have been, xoRobin
How beautiful Vivienne. A stunning house and garden, no wonder he painted such gorgeous paintings. I love your mini masterpieces ;0) Have a happy week my dear xx
So beautiful Vivienne….Your photographs look magical…I would definitely love to visit one day!
Susan x
What a lovely house and gardens Vivienne. Hope I will be able to visit myself one day!
Madelief x
another place for me to add to my bucket list!
A wonderful and inspiring place. I am sure I would have picked up a few postcards from there too! Renoir was lucky to live the latter part of his life in such a beautiful place. x
Such beautiful pictures of Renoir’s house and gardens, and what a lovely atmosphere it has. Renoir was one of the first painters I admired when I was very young! Your postcards will bring you lots of lovely memories of your special visit.
Happy week ahead, Vivienne.
Helen xox
Hello Vivienne,
Thank you for sharing your visit – I loved all the pictures! It must have been just magical to be on the spot that masterpiece was painted, once in a lifetime thing, really. That apple-painting must have been fantastic in real life – even the card you bought has such vivid colors!
Have a lovely week!
Yours,
Mia
Wow, that was beautiful….I wish Europe wasn’t so far away…and I could venture to Renoir’s home some weekend! Robin from Washington state USA!
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We are far away too,but I am so glad you can see the wonderful paintings and then share with us. Vivienne your photos are so clear I feel I was there with you,thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of the week. Elizabeth x x
What a fabulous place ….. thank you for sharing it!
love Jooles x x x
Hi Viv,
I feel like I’ve been on a little tour of the place in reality! Love the photos you selected to take / share – like your eye was drawn into all those attractive details that can sometimes be overlooked in such a grand place but that are often the real gems 🙂 xxx
Oh, wow. I would love to visit there. I’ve always liked his paintings. Thank you for sharing your visit.
Great to see these pictures Vivienne, my observation is how these rooms are drenched with light which is so wonderful for an artist. Those ancient olive trees in the painting and the garden are fabulous x
What a wonderful opportunity for you to visit this museum. Thank you so much for sharing with us!
Wow – what a beautiful place and the setting with the olive groves, etc is just magical. It feels a long way from a dull, wet October day in Norfolk, that’s for sure. xCathy
Such a beautiful place Vivienne. Thanks for showing me around :0)
Jill xxx
Not visited you for a while so thought I would pop over and say hi. Looks like you have been very busy over the last few weeks.
Hola, que viaje tan bonito¡¡¡¡
besos
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