How the French Riviera shaped modern art

Jackie Wullschlager | Financial Times | 26th September 2026

World War Two “killed” the Riviera as a state of mind, but before that it was for many an artistic Arcadia. Lured south to escape “the authority of Paris”, artists responded to the bright sunny climate with startling new art. Matisse and Cezanne best illustrate this, painting colours not from life but from their minds – “pink flesh, dark blue sea, light blue sky”. An exhibition of these works re-creates that mindset … an intoxicating story of painting as pure visual joy”. Images are here.