Chateau de Cagnes-sur-Mer

We’ve lived in Cagnes-sur-Mer for nearly a year and a half now, and I still haven’t (unlike Mathilde) visited the main tourist attraction – the castle. So since this Sunday started off very rainy, offering no promise for any outdoor activities, we figured today would be a good a day as any to pay the old castle a visit. We had also learnt on the web that a local Finnish artist (so me and Hannu are not the only Finns living in Cagnes-sur-Mer, after all! Yihaa!) was having an exhibition in the castle.

So off we went, climbing up the steep hill to Haut-de-Cagnes, which is dominated by the chateau. As we approached, my heart filled with pride, as I saw the Finnish flag hoisted next to the French one at the top of the impressive structure (we’re a very patriotic lot, us Finns). Before visiting the castle, we took the opportunity to visit the church, which I had not visited so far either (no wonder, given how well hidden the entrance is). It was a typical Provencal chuch, with Baroque interiors, although some of the paintings were pretty unusual (like the one with John the Baptist’s head on a plate).

We then proceeded up the stairs to the chateau, and paid the 3 euro entrance fee. The ground floor houses a small local history museum, which seems to concentrate on olives – which have of course always been very important to the region (I learnt, for example, that olive oil used to be a very important source of fat, since dairy products had to be imported to the region – this being more a region for sheep and goats than cows). Another interesting detail – apparently the castle was founded by one Rainier Grimaldi (the castle is called Chateau Grimaldi). So the name Rainier made me wonder whether the Grimaldis of Cagnes are related to the Grimaldis of Monaco. Hmm, now there’s something to ponder upon...

The second and third floors housed the art collection of the chateau – which contains works of art from numerous famous artists (not so unusual perhaps, given that quite a few of them have spent time on the French Riviera). We were treated to a most impressive collection of portraits of one Suzy Solidor – there were paintings of here from probably 20 different artists (which included the likes of Cocteau, Van Dongen, Picabia, Lempika)! Must’ve been somebody pretty famous, I suppose…? And as for Johanna Oras' (yes, that would be the Finnish lady) exhibition? Well, I must admit, despite all my patriotism, I struggled somewhat to be impressed by her paintings. The theme of the exhibitions was teddy bears. Mostly the art consisted of thematic studies with a “teddy bear twist” (“Still life” was, er, a normal still life type of painting but with a teddy bear added to the mix), or famous people in “teddy bear form” (the lady & lord of the castle as teddy bears, Picasso as teddy bear, Jean Renoir as teddy bear, Mika Hakkinen as teddy bear, you get the picture). I guess it’s an original idea, but it just didn’t do much for me. Well, modern art isn’t always my cup of tea anyway…

We finished off our visit at the roof of the castle, where we were treated to some great views over Cagnes-sur-Mer, and the surrounding areas. We could even see our flat from there ;-) And of course we got to see the Finnish flag all close up – Mathilde had to restrain me from climbing up the flag pole (an impressive feat, considering our size difference).