#14 w-report the secrets of the Côte D'Azur
And other Rivierian pearls from insiders like writer Katja Eichinger and art collector Maja Hoffmann - plus a lot of News You Can Use (in the South of France)
KATJA EICHINGER’S BIG BLUE (AW)
The Lady knows Cannes: Katja has been visiting the Côte D'Azur for around 30 years, as a former film critic for Variety she’s been regularly attending the Cannes film festival. The writer and creative multi-talent now lives between Munich and Berlin and returns regularly to Cannes for various reasons ( she inherited an apartment there owned by her deceased husband, the legendary German film producer Bernd Eichinger).
K.E. “The sea is cobalt blue. On the horizon, it merges almost seamlessly into the cloudless sky. The palm trees outside my window tremble slightly in the afternoon wind. A flock of green parrots flies overhead. The air smells of eucalyptus and cedar. I breathe a sigh of relief. I'm finally back. Finally back in Cannes, finally back on the Côte d'Azur. Finally immersing myself again in the radiant blue of the horizon, which Yves Klein declared a work of art and immortalized in his monochrome paintings.”
The Côte d'Azur, the “azure coast”, also known as the French Riviera, describes the stretch of the Mediterranean coast from Cassis to the Italian border, including St. Tropez, Cannes, Antibes, Nice and Monaco. Hardly any other coastline has attracted so many people from the worlds of politics, literature, art, fashion, music and film. “A sunny place for shady people”, the British author and spy W. Somerset Maugham once said about Monaco, and the phrase applies - according to Katja - to the entire coast. Elegance and kitsch live side by side here. So the w-report asked Katja, who recently wrote the clever and amusing book “The Big Blue” (Blumenbar Verlag) to share some magical Riviera places with us. The ones where natural beauty unfolds, where no artificial bling has spread, where the yachts do not obstruct the view of the sea and where visitors are not treated like walking wallets.
CANNES: If you want to eat near the harbour, beware of food poisoning and avoid the Caffe Roma at any cost. Instead, stick to the safe and rather excellent Astoux et Brun for seafood and La Californie for a typical brasserie faire. Bistro les Cannailles is a small but very good restaurant off the tourist trail where the locals eat. Also, the Carlton Hotel has been recently renovated and now has a rather lovely dining area and also, on a hot day the sofas in the shaded court yard are lovely. For gourmet dining check out Bruno Oger, Le Cannet - there’s a bistro which is slightly less pricey as well as a fine dining restaurant. Both are excellent.
A vintage shopping secret among stylists and influencers: L’Antiquaire et la Mode in Cannes. Eric and Fabio sell vintage YSL, Chanel, Dior and Hermes haute couture, fashion jewelry and hand bags from their depot in Cannes. Make an appointment via their Instagram account: @antiquairelamode.
NICE: Nietzsche wrote parts of “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” in Nice and found much inspiration in hiking. Check out the steep, but do-able Chemin de Nietzsche near Eze and when you re-read Zarathustra you’ll find passages in the book that conjure up this beautiful coastline. Nice has much improved in recent years. Stay at the Hotel Negresco, a strange mix of Overlook Hotel and Clockwork Orange. The Matisse and Chagall Museums are worth checking out and the old town is a great place to just hang out and eat ice cream.
GRASSE: Apart from the two big perfume houses Fragonard (they have a rather lovely perfume museum) and Molinard check out local perfumer Olivier Durbano. He creates very subtle but unusual scents – androgynous but especially good for men. While in Grasse, do go to the church – it’s dark, musty and mysetrious. You’ll see where Patrick Süskind got his inspiration for his bestselling novel “Perfume – Story of a Murderer,” which is largely set in Grasse and much recommended reading for the Cote d’Azur. In 2006 my late husband produced the movie version directed by Tom Tykwer, starring Ben Wishaw as Jean-Baptiste Grenouille and beautifully shot by Antje’s husband Frank Griebe. It aged well. Watch it, if you haven’t seen it yet.
CAP D’ANTIBES: Dive into the world of F. Scott Fitzgerald by visiting or staying at the Belle Rives Hotel. The hotel used to be Fitzgerald’s villa and has maintained its Art Deco style. It’s a great place to stay or to just dine or spend an afternoon. Maybe not as high-voltage luxury as the nearby Hotel du Cap where it can be difficult to get a table but less bling and possibly more in the style of the old Cote d’Azur. Re-read “Tender is the Night” while you’re there and it will make your stay even more special.
SAINT TROPEZ: Avoid driving by car at any cost and hop on the ferry from Cannes instead. It takes around an hour and will save you from wasting precious life time in soul destroying traffic jams. Saint Tropez Senequier is a tourist-trap. Go and check out the bar on the first floor of Hotel Sube instead. It’s old school St. Tropez and doesn’t seem to have changed much since the likes of Brigitte Bardot, Gunther Sachs, Romy Schneider and Alain Delon made St. Tropez famous in the 60s and 70s.
ST. PAUL DE VENCE: The Fondation Maeght is one of the most beautiful museums in the world. One of a kind and an absolutely magical place, especially if you like modernism. While you’re in Vence, check out the Matisse Chapel, a small church decorated by Matisse in the years before his death. His friend Picasso thought it looked like a bathroom but others consider it some of his finest work. Try to get a table at the wonderful La Colombe d’Or or- even better – stay there. Everything you’ve heard about the place is true. The view is beautiful, the building extraordinary and the art on the walls incredible. In Vence you’ll find the Galerie Chave which used to belong to the late Alphonse Chave, who was Max Ernst’s lithographer. His wife, Madame Chave runs the gallery these days and offers an excellent selection of expressionists as well as some of Ernst’s remaining lithographs. Next door is the restaurant La Farigoule where Ernst and Man Ray used to eat.
CAP FERRAT: It’s a bit of a billionaire’s ghetto, but La Villa Santo-Sospir also called The Tattooed House is worth going and really rather wonderful. The house was decorated by Jean Cocteau who covered the walls with drawings. Also, the furniture is still original and you get a sense of wild parties and lush evenings. For design and architecture aficionados: E-1027, a seaside villa designed by Eileen Gray, her first architectural creation. It’s been recently restored and a wonder of light and beauty.
Maja Hoffman’s Arles & Beyond (GW)
What Peggy Guggenheim was to Venice in the mid-1900s, shaping the island city into a dynamic art destination, the Swiss art patron Maja Hoffmann is to Arles. Almost two decades ago, she purchased a massive former train depot in the middle of the city and over the years, has carefully transformed it into LUMA, an art institution for the 21st century, spread out over 23 acres, complete with an archive and stainless-steel tower designed by Frank Gehry, art residency and production spaces imagined by Annabelle Selldorf and a park designed by Bas Smets. Luma officially debuted in 2021, but long before it opened it started to creatives from Paris and beyond to move to Arles, who are each in their own way, reactivating this small second city. Beyond Luma, Hoffmann has also helped to inject artistic projects and works throughout the city, such as commissioning the artist Jorge Pardo to design the interiors of the L’Arlatan, a historic hotel property Hoffmann purchased in order to save it from a more commercial fate. I interviewed Maja Hoffmann originally for FT’s HTSI; the story is no longer online but here is a timely excerpt.
NOTE: THE REST OF THIS STORY—- A GREAT LIST OF CULTURAL HAPPENINGS IN THE AREA AS WELL AS INCREDIBLE INTEL FROM THE RENOWNED ART COLLECTOR MAJA HOFFMANN—ARE AVAILABLE TO PAYING SUBSCRIBERS. IF YOU LIKE OUR WORK, PLEASE CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING. x
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