Travel and Adventure by Various Travel Authors

"I have nothing but my genius to sustain me. Away with your illusions and delusions. I offer you grandeur, nobility, courage, daring. I ask for no better, no higher life."

— Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso — shaman, magician, changeling — sorcerer of art, man of many faces and styles and loves, is making an appearance again all across southern France. Or at least you can trip along, following his apparition.

I followed this trail recently, and just when I caught a glimpse of him, he was off again, like the sparkles on the Mediterranean Sea just before the dark clouds churn the water maroon.

Picasso spent some of his happiest and most productive years in Provence and the Cote d'Azur of France, mostly after 1946. He lived and painted in various places, such as Nice, Antibes, Aix-en-Provence and Mougins, primarily with Francoise Gilot (their two children were born in the area) and with his last and second wife, Jacqueline.

Once in the south of France, Picasso left behind his Blue Period and his Rose Period. He had moved into Cubism 30 years before, and he added assemblage, sculpture, printmaking and ceramics to his repertoire.

My first stop was the Picasso Museum in Antibes. Here, in this 2,400-year-old city, originally Antipolos, Picasso lived with his young family: Francoise, son Claude, and daughter Paloma. He produced some of his most joyful painting, including "La Joie de Vivre," a large rectangular painting that includes a figure of Francoise in the center and a flower-like woman dancing with fauns playing flutes. World War II was over, and Picasso was in love with the young Francoise.

In fall 1946, Picasso stayed and painted in the Antibes Museum of Art, the former Grimaldi castle — yes, the same family that rules neighboring Monaco. He even painted on the walls. Given the space by the curator, Picasso, in gratitude, donated 23 paintings, 44 drawings, 78 ceramics and even engravings. The Antibes Museum of Art was renamed the Picasso Museum in 1966. On July 20, the museum held a re-opening with Picasso's work from the collection exhibited on the second level. Sculptures by other artists of the 20th and 21st century seem to stand guard on the patio above the Mediterranean Sea.

Above Antibes and Cannes in the lower Alps is the 15th century village of Mougins. There, I found the Photography Museum of Andre Villers, who for years photographed Picasso. Displayed were photos of Picasso in various times of his life: painting pottery; standing proudly in his shorts in his studio in Cannes; clowning with a bowler hat; with his children Paloma and Claude; and a poster where you see his impishness, his pride and irascibility. Picasso lived in Mougins from 1936 to 1939 with Dora Maar, and in 1958 he returned to the village with Jacqueline. He passed away there in his last residence, a 250-year-old villa, at the age of 91 in 1973. He had completed more than 15,000 works of art in his long lifetime.

In Aix-en-Provence, a jewel of an exhibit focuses on Picasso and Cezanne. The exhibit, "Picasso/Cezanne," which runs through Sept. 27 at the Granet Museum, emphasizes the great influence Aix-native Cezanne had on Picasso, who was 40 years his junior. Though the two never met, Picasso referred to Cezanne as "the father of us all." It was Cezanne's emphasis on finding essential shapes and structure in nature that especially fascinated Picasso, and which led to his exploration, along with George Braque, of Cubism.

Picasso and Cezanne were an interesting juxtaposition. Picasso went through so many periods — Blue Period, Rose Period, Cubism, Neo-Classicism and Surrealism. Picasso also had many wives and lovers — Olga, Marie Therese, Dora, Francoise, Jacqueline.

Cezanne, on the other hand, painted the same mountain, Sainte Victoria, more than 80 times. He had one mistress/wife, Hortense, all his life. Though once married the two lived apart. In addition, Picasso worked very quickly, while Cezanne worked slowly, sometimes asking a subject to sit 115 times for him.

A special effort is being made to bring children to the museum. Picasso himself said, "In every child there is an artist." In fact, the day I visited they were everywhere, being guided past paintings, or sitting on the floor while a teacher explained the work of Picasso, who once said it took all his life to learn to paint like a child.

The exhibit is divided into different segments, exploring Picasso's collection of Cezanne's work — "Five Bathers" and "The Sea of l'Estaque Behind Trees" are two — and also the paintings Picasso made which seem reflective or in harmony with Cezanne's. They shared several themes. For example, a table with fruit, utensils and bottles or vases — Cezanne's "Apples, Napkin, and Milk Jug" and Picasso's "The Dessert." Also in the exhibit is Picasso's portrait of George Braque, similar in theme to Cezanne's portrait of "Man With a Pipe." In the painting, Braque wears a hat like one Cezanne wears.

Paintings from Chateau de Vauvenargues, Picasso's home just outside of Aix from 1958 through 1961, are part of the exhibit.

These include two of a favorite buffet and with his Dalmatian dog in the foreground.

His home in Vauvenargues provided Picasso with a view of Cezanne's adored mountain, Sainte-Victoire. It was as if Picasso was truly touching base with the painter who inspired him most. The home, now owned by Picasso's stepdaughter, Catherine Hutin, is only open to visitors during the time of this exhibit. Tickets have sold out, but every day a limited number of extra tickets are released If fortunate, a visitor can see the artist's studio, with brushes as if waiting for his hand, the room where his funeral, and later Jacqueline's, were held — and the couple's burial site in the garden.

But death hasn't stopped Picasso. Nor was I stopped by the fact that I personally did not get to see the chateau! My pursuit of Picasso continued.

In true quest style I was on to Arles to briefly glimpse the great Roman arena where Picasso loved to attend the bullfights. According to Gilot in her book, "Life with Picasso," a true Spaniard likes Mass in the morning, a bullfight in the afternoon, and the whorehouse at night. She said Picasso might do without the morning and evening events, but he had to have his bullfights.

Of course, as with most of his life, the bullfights became another major theme in his art. In fact, his great painting of a bullfighter, "The Matador," painted in bold red and yellow with heavy black lines, hangs in the exhibit now in Aix. Bullfights dominated his lithographs and many of his ceramics.

My last stop was a dramatic finale: The Cathedrale d'Images in Les Baux de Provence, 30 minutes from Arles, which features the multimedia show "Picasso" until Jan. 3.

It was an extremely hot day, and in the mountain area was all beige and gray rock — so far from the turquoise sea of Antibes and the green, leafy plane trees of Aix. The site of the multimedia Picasso exhibit is an old stone quarry, like a huge, gaping, square mouth opening into darkness.

Dare I enter, fearing claustrophobia? How long will it last, I wondered?.

But soon after entering I was transported. I walked into the flamenco guitar music, the color and the images. The many faces of Olga greeted me, then Dora, then Francoise, Jacqueline. Next, I was surrounded by Picasso's Neoclassic Period, the ample figures appeared in all their solid presences. And soon, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon", his groundbreaking painting that led to Cubism.

Music wove through all the changes in style — Beethoven, Shostakovich, Miles Davis, Vivaldi. Collage images began to move in and out — and then I was swirling in a war zone of Picasso's "Guernica," his powerful painting of the bombing of the small Basque town. And then a shift to music by Erik Satie and Picasso's Blue Period. Soon, his Rose Period followed, with clowns, acrobats, harlequins and whores — just before the music of Bizet's Carmen accompanied scenes of the gaiety and pathos of Paris' cabaret life and dancehalls. Sad colorful creatures moved across walls and ceilings and floor.

Another change. One by one, white, elongated female forms rose like flowers — centaurs and fauns cavorted. Picasso's and his magnificent "Les Joie de Vivre" painting filled the quarry walls. And then the bullfights! Suddenly the entire quarry was blood red. Quickly drawn images of bulls appeared here and here and here — along with matadors and picadors — all to the click of castanets and heels.

Walking through the quarry cathedral a visitor is engulfed, immersed in Picasso's work. It was hard for me to leave all the color, the beauty, the music, the emotion.

I realized then — he is not only here.

He is everywhere.

IF YOU GO

Helpful websites:

General information on Picasso in France: www.picasso.fr/us

— Picasso Museum in Antibes: www.antibes-juanlespins.com/eng/culture/musees/picasso/index.html

— Photography Museum of Andre Villers in Mougins: uk.franceguide.com/Mougins.html

— Granet Museum in Aix-en-Provence: www.museegranet-aixenprovence.fr

— Picasso/Cezanne at Granet Museum in Aix-en-Provence: www.aixenprovencetourism.com/uk/aix-picasso-cezanne.html

com

— Cathedrale d'Images, Les Baux de Provence: www.cathedrale-images.

Hotels:

— Garden Beach Hotel, Antibes; www.garden-beach-hotel.com.

— Hotel D'Arlatan, Arles; www.hotel-arlatan.fr

Karen Kenyon is a freelance travel writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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