5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 1/13

A view along the "Promenade desAnglais" in Nice at night.

Map showing the extent of the Côte d'Azur.

French RivieraFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Côte d'Azur (French pronunciation: [kot daˈzyʁ]; Occitan: Còstad'Azur; literally: 'Azure Coast'), often known in English as theFrench Riviera, is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeastcorner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco.There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extendfrom the Italian border (Italian Riviera) in the east to Saint-Tropez,Hyères, Toulon, or Cassis in the west.[1][2]

This coastline was one of the first modern resort areas. It began as awinter health resort for the British upper class at the end of the 18thcentury. With the arrival of the railway in the mid-19th century, itbecame the playground and vacation spot of British, Russian, andother aristocrats, such as Queen Victoria andKing Edward VII, when he was Prince ofWales. In the summer, it also played home tomany members of the Rothschild family. In thefirst half of the 20th century, it was frequentedby artists and writers, including Pablo Picasso,Henri Matisse, Edith Wharton, SomersetMaugham, and Aldous Huxley, as well aswealthy Americans and Europeans. AfterWorld War II, it became a popular touristdestination and convention site. Manycelebrities, such as Elton John and BrigitteBardot, have homes in the region. Officially,the Côte d'Azur is home to 163 nationalitieswith 83,962 foreign residents,[3] althoughestimates of the number of non-French nationals living in the area are often much higher.[4]

Its largest city is Nice, which has a population of 347,060 (2006).[5] The city is the center of a communautéurbaine – Nice-Côte d'Azur – bringing together 24 communes and over 500,000 inhabitants and 933 080 inthe urban area.

Nice is home to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport, France's third-busiest airport (after Paris-Charles de GaulleAirport and Paris-Orly), which is on an area of partially reclaimed coastal land at the western end of thePromenade des Anglais. A second airport at Mandelieu was once the region's commercial airport,[6] but isnow mainly used by private and business aircraft.[7] The A8 autoroute runs through the region, as does theold main road generally known as the Route nationale 7 (officially now the D N7 in the Var and the D6007in the Alpes-Maritimes).[8] Trains serve the coastal region and inland to Grasse, with the TGV Sud Estservice reaching Nice-Ville station in five hours and a half from Paris.

Coordinates: 43°21′54″N 6°50′59″E

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 2/13

The French Riviera has a total population of over two million. It contains the seaside resorts of Cap-d'Ail,Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Antibes, Juan-les-Pins, Cannes, Saint-Raphaël, Fréjus, Sainte Maxime and Saint-Tropez,[9] It is also home to a high-tech/science park ortechnopole at Sophia-Antipolis (north of Antibes) and a research and technology center at the University ofNice Sophia-Antipolis. The region has 35,000 students, of whom 25% are working towards a doctorate.[10]

The French Riviera is a major yachting and cruising area with several marinas along its coast. According tothe Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency, each year the Riviera hosts 50% of the world's superyachtfleet, with 90% of all superyachts visiting the region's coast at least once in their lifetime.[11]

As a tourist centre it benefits from 300 days of sunshine per year, 115 kilometres (71 mi) of coastline andbeaches, 18 golf courses, 14 ski resorts and 3,000 restaurants.[12]

Contents1 Etymology

1.1 Origins of the name Côte d'Azur1.2 Origin of term French Riviera1.3 Disputes over the extent of the Riviera and the Côte d'Azur

2 History2.1 From prehistory to the Bronze Age2.2 Greek influence2.3 Roman colonization2.4 Barbarians and Christians2.5 The Counts of Provence and the House of Grimaldi2.6 Popularity with the British upper class in 18th and 19th centuries2.7 Railway, gambling, and royalty2.8 Inter-war period, American visitors and decline of the aristocracy2.9 The Second World War2.10 Post-war period and late 20th century

3 Geography3.1 Places3.2 Tourism3.3 Climate

3.3.1 Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes3.3.2 The Var

4 Events and festivals5 Painters6 See also7 Bibliography

7.1 History7.2 Painters

8 References

Etymology

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 3/13

View of Port Hercule, Monaco

The Old Town district of Menton, which is the lasttown on the Côte d'Azur before the Italian frontier.

Origins of the name Côte d'Azur

The name Côte d'Azur was given to the coast by the writer StéphenLiégeard in his book, La Côte d’azur, published in December1887.[13] Liégeard was born in Dijon, in the French department ofCôte-d'Or, and adapted that name by substituting the azure bluecolor of the Mediterranean for the gold of Côte-d'Or.[14]

Origin of term French Riviera

The term French Riviera is typical of English use. It was built byanalogy with the term Italian Riviera, which extends east of theFrench Riviera (from Ventimiglia to La Spezia).[15] As early as the19th century, the British referred to the region as the Riviera or the French Riviera, usually referring to theeastern part of the coast, between Monaco and the Italian border.[16] Originally, riviera is an Italian commonname which means "coastline".[17]

In Occitan (Niçard and Provençal) and French, the only usual names are Còsta d'Azur in Occitan and Côted'Azur in French.[18] A name like "French Riviera" (Ribiera Francesa in Occitan, Riviera Française inFrench) is unusual and sounds odd; it could only work as a word-to-word translation of the British point ofview. For instance, in French, "Riviera Française" is found in the online Larousse encyclopedia[19] to referto the holidays of a group of English workers (moreover, in Occitan, the word ribiera "coastline" mostlyworks as a common name, whereas in French, the old-fashioned term Rivière de Gênes was used to refer tothe Italian Riviera whose center is Genoa).[20]

Disputes over the extent of the Riviera andthe Côte d'Azur

The Côte d'Azur and the French Riviera have no officialboundaries. Some sources put the western boundary atSaint-Tropez in the Var département. Others includeSaint Tropez, Hyères or Toulon in the Var(departement), or as far as Cassis in the Bouches-du-Rhône département.[1][2] In her 1955 novel, TheTalented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith describes theRiviera as including all of the coast between Toulon andthe Italian border.

History

From prehistory to the Bronze Age

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 4/13

The 5th-century baptistery of FréjusCathedral, which is still in use.

The Côte d'Azur has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Primitive tools dating to between 1 million and1.050 million years were discovered in the Grotte du Vallonnet, near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, with stonesand bones of animals, including bovines, rhinoceros, and bison. At Terra Amata (380,000 to 230,000 BC),near the Nice Port, a fireplace was discovered that is one of the oldest found in Europe.[21]

Stone dolmens, monuments from the Bronze Age, can be found near Draguignan, while the Valley ofMarvels (Vallée des Merveilles) near Mount Bégo, at 2,000 m (6,600 ft) elevation, is presumed to have beenan outdoor religious sanctuary, having over 40,000 drawings of people and animals, dated to about 2000BC.[22]

Greek influence

Beginning in the 7th century BC, Greek sailors from Asia Minor began to visit and then build trading posts(emporia) along the Côte d'Azur. Emporia were started at Olbia (Saint-Pierre-de-l'Almanarre, near Hyères);Antipolis (Antibes) and Nikæa (Nice). These settlements, which traded with the inhabitants of the interior,became rivals of the Etruscans and Phoenicians, who also visited the Côte d'Azur.

Roman colonization

In 8 BC the Emperor Augustus built an imposing trophy monument at La Turbie (the Trophy of the Alps orTrophy of Augustus) to mark the pacification of the region.

Roman towns, monuments and amphitheatres were built along the Côte d'Azur and many still survive, suchas the amphitheatre and baths at Cimiez, above Nice, and the amphitheatre, Roman walls and other remainsat Fréjus.

Barbarians and Christians

Roman Provence reached the height of its power and prosperityduring the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. In the mid-3rd century,Germanic peoples began to invade the region, and Roman powerweakened.

In the same period, Christianity started to become a powerful forcein the region. The first cathedrals were built in the 4th century, andbishoprics were established: in Fréjus at the end of the 4th century,Cimiez and Vence in 439, and Antibes in 442. The oldest Christianstructure still in existence on the Côte d'Azur is the baptistery ofFréjus Cathedral, built at the end of the 5th century, which also sawthe founding of the first monastery in the region, Lerins Monasteryon an island off the coast at Cannes.

The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the first half of the 5thcentury was followed by invasions of Provence by the Visigoths, theBurgundians and the Ostrogoths. There was then a long period ofwars and dynastic quarrels, which in turn led to further invasions bythe Saracens and the Normans in the 9th century.

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 5/13

The ruins of the Grimaldi castle atGrimaud, near Saint-Tropez.

The Counts of Provence and the House of Grimaldi

Some peace was restored to the coast by the establishment in 879 of a new kingdom of Provence, ruled firstby the Bosonids dynasty (879–1112), then by the Catalans (1112–1246), and finally by the Angevins (1246–1382, elder branch, 1382–1483 (younger branch).

In the 13th century, another powerful political force appeared, theHouse of Grimaldi. Descended from a Genoese nobleman expelledfrom Genoa by his rivals in 1271, members of the different branchesof the Grimaldis took power in Monaco, Antibes and Nice, and builtcastles at Grimaud, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Antibes. Albert II, thecurrent Prince of Monaco is a descendant of the Grimaldis.

In 1388, the city of Nice and its surrounding territory, from themouth of the Var to the Italian border, were separated from Provenceand came under the protection of the House of Savoy. The territorywas called the Comté de Nice after 1526, and thereafter its language,history and culture were separate from those of Provence until 1860,when it was re-attached to France under Napoleon III.

Provence retained its formal independence until 1480, when the last Comte de Provence, René I of Naples,died and left the Comté to his nephew, Charles du Maine, who in turn left it to Louis XI of France. In 1486,Provence formally became part of France.

Popularity with the British upper class in 18th and 19th centuries

Until the end of the 18th century, the area later known as the Côte d'Azur was a remote and impoverishedregion, known mostly for fishing, olive groves and the production of flowers for perfume (manufactured inGrasse).

A new phase began when the coast became a fashionable health resort for the British upper class in the late18th century. The first British traveller to describe its benefits was the novelist Tobias Smollett, who visitedNice in 1763 when it was still an Italian city within the Kingdom of Sardinia. Smollett brought Nice and itswarm winter climate to the attention of the British aristocracy with Travels through France and Italy,written in 1765. At about the same time, a Scottish doctor, John Brown, became famous for prescribingwhat he called climato-therapy, a change in climate, to cure a variety of diseases including tuberculosis,known then as consumption. The French historian Paul Gonnet wrote that, as a result, Nice was filled with"a colony of pale and listless English women and listless sons of nobility near death".

In 1834, a British nobleman and politician named Henry Peter Brougham, First Baron Brougham and Vaux,who had played an important part in the abolition of the slave trade, travelled with an unwell sister to thesouth of France, intending to go to Italy. A cholera epidemic in Italy forced him to stop at Cannes, where heenjoyed the climate and scenery so much that he bought land and built a villa. He began to spend his wintersthere and, owing to his fame, others followed: Cannes soon had a small British enclave.

Robert Louis Stevenson was a later British visitor who came for his health. In 1882 he rented a villa calledLa Solitude at Hyères, where he wrote much of A Child's Garden of Verses.

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 6/13

The Monte Carlo Casino.

The Villa Ephrussi in Cap-Saint-Jean-Ferrat,was built in 1905–1912 by Beatrice deRothschild, of the Rothschild family

Monument to Queen Victoria in Cimiez, inthe hills above Nice, where she was aregular winter visitor

Railway, gambling, and royalty

In 1864, six years after Nice became part of France following theSecond Italian War of Independence the first railway was completed,making Nice and the Riviera accessible to visitors from all overEurope. One hundred thousand visitors arrived in 1865. By 1874,residents of foreign enclaves in Nice, most of whom were British,numbered 25,000.

In the mid-19th centuryBritish and Frenchentrepreneurs began tosee the potential of

promoting tourism along the Côte d'Azur. At the time,gambling was illegal in France and Italy. In 1856, the Princeof Monaco, Charles III, began constructing a casino inMonaco, which was called a health spa to avoid criticism bythe church. The casino was a failure, but in 1863 the Princesigned an agreement with François Blanc, a Frenchbusinessman already operating a successful casino at Baden-Baden (southwestern Germany), to build a resort and newcasino. Blanc arranged for steamships and carriages to takevisitors from Nice to Monaco, and built hotels, gardens and acasino in a place called Spélugues. At the suggestion of hismother, Princess Caroline, Charles II renamed the place Monte Carlo after himself. When the railwayreached Monte Carlo in 1870, many thousands of visitors began to arrive and the population of theprincipality of Monaco doubled.

The French Riviera soon became a popular destination for European royalty. Just days after the railwayreached Nice in 1864, Tsar Alexander II of Russia visited on a private train, followed soon afterwards byNapoleon III and then Leopold II, the King of the Belgians.

Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor. In 1882 she stayed inMenton, and in 1891 spent several years at the Grand Hotel atGrasse. In 1892 she stayed at the Hotel Cost-belle in Hyères. Insuccessive years from 1895 to 1899 she stayed in Cimiez in thehills above Nice. First, in 1895 and 1896, she patronised theGrand Hôtel, while in later years she and her staff took over theentire west wing of the Excelsior Hôtel Régina, which had beendesigned with her needs specifically in mind (part of which laterbecame the home and studio of the renowned artist HenriMatisse). She travelled with an entourage of between sixty anda hundred, including chef, ladies in waiting, dentist, Indianservants, her own bed and her own food.[23]

The Prince of Wales was a regular visitor to Cannes, starting in1872. He frequented the Club Nautique, a private club on theCroisette, the fashionable seafront boulevard of Cannes. He visited there each spring for a two-month

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 7/13

period, observing yacht races from shore while the royal yacht floated, Britannia, was sailed by professionalcrewmen. After he became King in 1901, he never again visited the French Riviera.

By the end of the 19th century the Côte d'Azur began to attract artistic painters, who appreciated the climate,the bright colors and clear light. Among them were Auguste Renoir, who settled in Cagnes-sur-Mer and inMougins, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Inter-war period, American visitors and decline of the aristocracy

The First World War brought down many of the royal houses of Europe and altered the nature and thecalendar of the French Riviera. Following the war, greater numbers of Americans began arriving, withbusiness moguls and celebrities eventually outnumbering aristocrats. The 'High Society' scene moved froma winter season to a summer season.

Americans began coming to the south of France in the 19th century. Henry James set part of his novel, TheAmbassadors, on the Riviera. James Gordon Bennett Jr, the son and heir of the founder of the New YorkHerald, had a villa in Beaulieu. Industrialist John Pierpont Morgan gambled at Monte Carlo and bought18th-century paintings by Fragonard in Grasse – shipping them to the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

A feature of the French Riviera in the inter-war years was the Train Bleu, an all first-class sleeper trainwhich brought wealthy passengers down from Calais. It made its first trip in 1922, and carried WinstonChurchill, Somerset Maugham, and the future King Edward VIII over the years.

While Europe was still recovering from the war and the American dollar was strong, American writers andartists started arriving on the Côte d'Azur. Edith Wharton wrote The Age of Innocence (1920) at a villa nearHyères, winning the Pulitzer Prize for the novel (the first woman to do so). Dancer Isadora Duncanfrequented Cannes and Nice, but died in 1927 when her scarf caught in a wheel of the Amilcar motor car inwhich she was a passenger and strangled her. The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald first visited with his wife Zeldain 1924, stopping at Hyères, Cannes and Monte Carlo – eventually staying at Saint-Raphaël, where he wrotemuch of The Great Gatsby and began Tender is the Night.

While Americans were largely responsible for making summer the high season, a French fashion designer,Coco Chanel, made sunbathing fashionable. She acquired a striking tan during the summer of 1923, and tansthen became the fashion in Paris.

During the abdication crisis of the British Monarchy in 1936, Wallis Simpson, the intended bride of KingEdward VIII, was staying at the Villa Lou Vieie in Cannes, talking with the King by telephone each day.After his abdication, the Duke of Windsor (as he became) and his new wife stayed at the Villa La Croe nearAntibes.

The English playwright and novelist Somerset Maugham also became a resident in 1926, buying the VillaMauresque toward the tip of Cap Ferrat, near Nice.[24]

The Second World War

When Germany invaded France in June 1940, the remaining British colony was evacuated to Gibraltar andeventually to Britain. American Jewish groups helped some of the Jewish artists living in the south ofFrance, such as Marc Chagall, to escape to the United States. In August 1942, 600 Jews from Nice were

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 8/13

Cap Ferrat; Plage la Paloma, a beachon the Côte d'Azur.

rounded up by French police and sent to Drancy, and eventually to death camps. In all about 5,000 FrenchJews from Nice perished during the war.

On 15 August 1944, American parachute troops landed near Fréjus, and a fleet landed 60,000 troops of theAmerican Seventh Army and French First Army between Cavalaire and Agay, east of Saint-Raphaël.German resistance crumbled in days.

Saint-Tropez was badly damaged by German mines at the time of the liberation. The novelist Coletteorganized an effort to assure the town was rebuilt in its original style.

When the war ended, artists Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso returned to live and work.

Post-war period and late 20th century

The Cannes Film Festival was launched in September 1946, marking the return of French cinema to worldscreens. The Festival Palace was built in 1949 on the site of the old Cercle Nautique, where the Prince ofWales had met his mistresses in the late 19th century. The release of the French film Et Dieu… créa lafemme (And God Created Woman) in November 1956 was a major event for the Riviera, making aninternational star of Brigitte Bardot, and making an international tourist destination of Saint-Tropez,particularly for the new class of wealthy international travellers called the 'jet set.'

The marriage of American film actress Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier of Monaco on 18 April 1956, attractedworld attention once again. It was viewed on television by 30 million people.

During the 1960s, the Mayor of Nice, Jacques Médecin, decided to reduce the dependence of the Riviera onordinary tourism, and to make it a destination for international congresses and conventions. He built thePalais des Congrès at the Acropolis in Nice, and founded a Chagall Museum and a Matisse Museum atCimiez. High-rise apartment buildings and real estate developments began to spread.

At the end of August, 1997, Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed spent their last days together on his father'syacht off Pampelonne Beach near Saint-Tropez, shortly before they were killed in a traffic accident in theAlma Tunnel in Paris.

Geography

Places

Places on the Côte d'Azur (following the broadest definition),following the coast from south-west to north-east, include:

CassisLa CiotatBandolSanary-sur-MerSix-Fours-les-PlagesToulonHyères and the Îles d'Hyères (Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Îledu Levant)Le Lavandou

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 9/13

Boulevard de la Croisette along thewaterfront in Cannes.

Saint-Jeannet, in Alpes-Maritimes.

Port of Porquerolles, an island in Var.

Courtade's Beach on Porquerolles.

Cavalaire-sur-MerSaint-TropezInland – Grimaud, with Port-Grimaud on the coastSainte-MaximeFréjus and Saint-RaphaëlInland – FayenceLes Adrets-de-l'EstérelTanneronThéoule-sur-MerMandelieu and La NapouleInland – GrasseInland – Mouginsthe Îles de Lérins – Île Sainte-Marguerite and Île Saint-HonoratCannesInland – VallaurisInland – ValbonneInland – Sophia-AntipolisGolfe-JuanJuan-les-PinsAntibesInland – BiotVilleneuve-LoubetCagnes-sur-MerInland – VenceInland – Saint-Paul-de-VenceInland – Saint-JeannetSaint-Laurent-du-VarInland – BelvédèreNiceVillefranche-sur-MerSaint-Jean-Cap-FerratBeaulieu-sur-MerÈzeCap d'AilMonaco (including Monte-Carlo)BeausoleilRoquebrune-Cap-MartinMenton

Tourism

Some data related to tourism on the Riviera in 2006:

More than 14 million tourists52% of foreign customers65 million nightsTourists spending 5 billion euros75,000 jobs tourism is 18% of total employment in the Alpes-Maritimes.

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 10/13

500,000 tourists in the High Country500,000 delegates3 million admissions to museums and monumentsOver 45% of tourists come by air

Climate

The Côte d'Azur has a Mediterranean climate, with sunny, hot, dry summers and mild winters. Wintertemperatures are moderated by the Mediterranean; days of frost are rare. The average daily low temperaturein Nice in January is 5.4 °C (41.7 °F); the January average daily low temperature in Toulon is 6.2 °C(43.2 °F). The average high temperature in August in Nice is 28.6 °C (83.5 °F); in Toulon the average dailyhigh temperature is 29.7 °C (85.5 °F)

The Côte d'Azur receives more rainfall than Paris annually (803.3 mm annually in Nice and 684.8 mm inToulon compared with 649.8 mm in Paris), but the rainy days are much less frequent; 111 rainy days a yearin Paris compared with 61 days in Toulon and 63 in Nice. Toulon has 2,793 hours of sunshine a year, Nicehas 2,668 hours.[25]

Micro-climates exist in these coastal regions, and there can be great differences in the weather betweenvarious locations. Strong winds such as the Mistral, a cold dry wind from the northwest or from the east, areanother characteristic, particularly in the winter.

Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes

Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes département are sheltered by the Alps. The winds are usually gentle, from thesea to the land, though sometimes the Mistral blows strongly from the north-west, or, turned by themountains, from the east. In 1956 a Mistral from the north-west reached 180 kilometres per hour (110 mph)at Nice airport.[26] Sometimes, in summer, the Sirocco brings high temperatures and reddish desert sandfrom Africa. (See Winds of Provence.)

Rain can be torrential, particularly in the autumn, when storms and rain are caused by the differencebetween the colder air inland and the warm Mediterranean water temperature (20 °C-24 °C, 68 °F-75 °F).The rainiest months are September (75.6 mm average rainfall); October (143.9 mm); November (94.3 mm)and December (87.8 mm).[26]

Snow is rare, falling once every ten years. 1956 was exceptional, when 20 centimetres (7.9 in) blanketed thecoast.[27] In January 1985 the coast between Cannes and Menton received 30 to 40 centimetres (12 to 16 in).In the mountains, snow is present from November to May.

The Var

The département of the Var (which includes Saint-Tropez and Hyères) has a climate slightly warmer, drierand sunnier than Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes, but is less sheltered from the wind.

The Mistral wind, which brings cold and dry air down from the upper Alpine regions via the Rhône Valleyand extends with diminishing intensity along the Côte d'Azur, blows frequently during the winter. Strongwinds blow for about seventy-five days a year in Fréjus.[26]

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 11/13

Paul Signac, The Port of Saint-Tropez, oil on canvas, 1901.

Events and festivalsSeveral major events take place:

Monaco and southeast France; Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo, JanuaryMonaco; International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo, January / FebruaryNice; Carnival, FebruaryMenton; Lemon Festival, FebruaryTourrettes-sur-Loup; Violet Festival, MarchMonaco; Monte-Carlo Masters, April / MayMonaco; Formula One Grand Prix race, MayGrasse; Rose Festival, MayCannes; Cannes Film Festival and Cannes Film Market, MayNice; Jazz Festival, JulyJuan-les-Pins; Jazz à Juan, late July.Grasse; Jasmine Festival, AugustToulon; Toulon Tournament, Tall Ships' Race

PaintersThe climate and vivid colors of the Mediterranean attracted manyfamous artists during the 19th and 20th centuries. They included:

Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947); retired to and died at Le Cannet.Georges Braque (1882–1963); painted frequently at L'Estaquebetween 1907 and 1910.Roger Broders (1883–1953); Parisian travel poster illustrator.Paul Cézanne (1839–1906); a native of Aix-en-Provence,Cézanne painted at L'Estaque between 1878 and 1882.Marc Chagall (1887–1985); lived in Saint-Paul-de-Vencebetween 1948 and 1985.Henri-Edmond Cross (1856–1910); discovered the Côte d'Azur in1883, and painted at Monaco and Hyères.Maurice Denis (1870–1943); painted at St. Tropez and Bandol.André Derain (1880–1954); painted at L'Estaque and Martigues.Raoul Dufy (1877–1953); whose wife was from Nice, painted in the region, including in Nice,Marseille and Martigues.Albert Marquet (1873–1947); painted at Marseille, St. Tropez and L'Estaque.Henri Matisse (1869–1954); first visited St. Tropez in 1904. In 1917 he settled in Nice, first at theHôtel Beau Rivage, then at the Hôtel de la Méditerranée, then at la Villa des Alliés in Cimiez. In 1921he lived in an apartment in Nice, next to the flower market and overlooking the sea, where he liveduntil 1938. He then moved to the Hôtel Régina in the hills of Cimiez, above Nice. During World WarII he lived in Vence, then returned to Cimiez, where he died and is buried.Claude Monet (1840–1927); visited Menton, Bordighera, Juan-les-Pins, Monte Carlo, Nice, Cannes,Beaulieu and Villefranche, and painted a number of seascapes of Cap Martin, near Menton, and atCap d'Antibes.Edvard Munch (1863–1944); visited and painted in Nice and Monte Carlo (where he developed apassion for gambling), and rented a villa at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in 1891.Pablo Picasso (1881–1973); spent each summer from 1919 to 1939 on the Côte d'Azur, and moved

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 12/13

Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to French

there permanently in 1946, first at Vallauris, then at Mougins, where he spent his last years.Auguste Renoir (1841–1919); visited Beaulieu, Grasse, Saint-Raphaël and Cannes, before finallysettling in Cagnes-sur-Mer in 1907, where he bought a farm in the hills and built a new house andworkshop on the grounds. He continued to paint there until his death in 1919. His house is now amuseum.Paul Signac (1863–1935); visited St. Tropez in 1892, and bought a villa, La Hune, at the foot ofcitadel in 1897. It was at his villa that his friend, Henri Matisse, painted his famous Luxe, Calme etVolupté in 1904. Signac made numerous paintings along the coast.Yves Klein (1928–1962); a native of Nice, considered an important figure in post-war European art.Sacha Sosno (1937-2013); French painter and sculptor living and working in Nice.

See alsoEgypt's Mediterranean RivieraGardens of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurGulf of GenoaTurkish RivieraPortuguese RivieraItalian RivieraProvence-Alpes-Côte d'AzurRed Sea RivieraRiviera (disambiguation page), featuring links to articles on the many coastal strips around the worldwhich are known as RivieraSouthern France

Bibliography

History

Henry de Lumley, La Grand Histoire des premiers hommes européens, Odile Jacob, Paris, 2010.(ISBN 978 2 7381 2386 2)Aldo Bastié, Histoire de la Provence, Éditions Ouest-France, 2001.Mary Blume, Côte d'Azur: Inventing the French Riviera, Thames and Hudson, London, 1992.Patrick Howarth, When the Riviera was Ours, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1977.Jim Ring, Riviera, the Rise and Fall of the Côte d'Azur, John Murray Publishers, London, 1988.Edouard Baratier (editor), Histoire de la Provence, Editions Privat, Toulouse, 1969 (ISBN 2 70891649 1)

Painters

La Méditerranée de Courbet à Matisse, catalog of the exhibit at the Grand Palais, Paris fromSeptember 2000 to January 2001. Published by the Réunion des musées nationaux, 2000.

References1. "Côte d'Azur, côte méditerranéenne française entre Cassis et Menton"

("Côte d'Azur, French Mediterranean coast between Cassis andToulon") in Dictionnaire Hachette encyclopédique (2000), p. 448.

5/25/2016 French Riviera - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Riviera 13/13

Riviera.

Wikivoyage has a travelguide for French_Riviera.

2. "Côte d'Azur, Partie orientale du littoral français, sur la Méditerranée,de Cassis à Menton" ("Côte d'Azur, Eastern part of the French coast,on the Mediterranean, from Cassis to Menton"), in Le Petit Larousseillustré (2005), p. 1297.

3. INSEE 1999 census4. e.g. Comité Régional du Tourisme Riviera Côte d'Azur5. INSEE, 2009 – INSEE.fr (http://www.insee.fr/fr/ppp/bases-de-donnee

s/recensement/populations-legales/commune.asp?depcom=06088)6. Official site: Cannes.aeroport.fr (http://www.cannes.aeroport.fr/aeroport/aeroport.htm#histoire)7. Official site: Cannes.aeroport.fr (http://www.cannes.aeroport.fr/aeroport/aeroport2.htm)8. National 7 website: Nationale7.com (http://www.nationale7.com/)9. Jim Ring, Riviera, The Rise and Rise of the Cote d'Azur, John Murray Publishers, London, 2004.

10. Sirius CCINCA11. Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency – p.31 CRDP-Nice.net (http://www.crdp-nice.net/dp/IMG/pdf/Kit_I

nfo_Cote_d_Azur_FR_Version_sept_07.pdf)12. Côte d'Azur Economic Development Agency, op.cit. p.6613. Cannes.com (http://www.cannes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=387&Itemid=2457587)14. Marc Boyer, L'Invention de la Côte d'Azur : l'hiver dans le Midi, préface de Maurice Agulhon, 378 pages,

Édition de l'Aube, 2002, ISBN 2-87678-643-5.15. In English, 'Riviera' as a whole is defined as "the coastal strip along the Mediterranean from La Spezia, Italy, to

west of Cannes, France." Webster's New World Dictionary of American English, Third College Edition, 1988.16. For example, J. Henry Bennett, Mentone, the Riviera, Corsica and Biarritz as Winter Climates (1862)17. "Vocabolario: Riviera". Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti. Istituzionali della Treccani.18. French online Larousse encyclopedia, article "Côte d'Azur". (http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/autre-region/

C%C3%B4te_dAzur/114833)19. French online Larousse encyclopedia, article "Vacances d'été" ("Summer Holydays"). (http://www.larousse.fr/enc

yclopedie/film/Vacances_d%C3%A9t%C3%A9/10308)20. Harrap's Standard French and English Dictionary, 1948.21. Henry de Lumley, La Grande Histoire des premiers hommes europeens, pg. 120.22. Aldo Bastié, Histoire de la Provence, Edition Ouest-France, 2001.23. Michael Nelson, Queen Victoria and the Discovery of the Riviera, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2007.24. http://www.estatenetfrance.com/St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat/areaguide/details/25. Meteo France website26. Météo-France site.27. Meteo-France site

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_Riviera&oldid=721365066"

Categories: French Riviera Seaside resorts in France Coasts of FranceLandforms of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

This page was last modified on 21 May 2016, at 10:05.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms mayapply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is aregistered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.