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Our favourite cultural events

Summer 2021 is going to be hot, vibrant and creative! For our long-awaited reunion, privileged sites such as the Palais des Papes in Avignon, the island of Porquerolles or the citadel in Mont-Dauphin in the Southern French Alps are hosting large-scale exhibitions. More than ever absolute musts, the Festival d’Avignon, the Rencontres de la Photo d’Arles, or the Fêtes de la Lavande in Digne-les-Bains have everything for those who love the living arts. And the bicentenaries of Napoléon Bonaparte and Gustave Flaubert are an excuse for a getaway to Saint-Raphaël or Marseille.

Published on 25 June 2021

Exceptional Exhibitions

Alps or Mediterranean? On the island of Porquerolles, the Fondation Carmignac is honouring “La Mer imaginaire“. The Villa Noailles in Hyères and Toulon is relaying the homage and offers aesthetes an overview of decorative arts from post-war times to the present day. High up in the Alps, 36 monumental sculptures by Ousmane Sow tracing “La Bataille de Little Big Horn” are taking over the citadel in Mont-Dauphin, a listed UNESCO site. The superb large formats by Yan Pei Ming are investing the Grande Chapelle of the Palais des Papes and the Collection Lambert in Avignon. A collection of 90 oils, watercolours and inks for “Il ne fait jamais nuit” trace Zao Wou Ki’s 65 year career at the Hôtel de Caumont in Aix-en-Provence, which then takes us off to Venice with the masterpieces of the Cini collection (Botticelli, Fra Angelico) to be shown for the first time in France… On the Côte d’Azur, the Musée Bonnard is celebrating tenth anniversary with a flagship exhibition “L’autoportrait, de Cézanne à Bonnard“.

A feast of Festivals

The region is celebrating the return of arts which are more alive than ever. The rapport with the audience and the quality of the decors and programmes explain the success of the big festivals of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, Avignon for the theatre or Arles for visual arts. This year, the recently completed Fondation Luma-Arles offers a sumptuous setting for the Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles. And music is not to be forgotten with Jazz à Juan in the magnificent pine forest, Jazz des Cinq Continents in Marseille, and even theFestival International d’Art Lyrique in Aix-en-Provence. The Chorégies d’Orange, the oldest music festival in France, returns to the exceptional ancient Roman theater. And along with these well-known events, the region is teeming with more intimate high-level ones. The itinérance musicale de Chaillol rings through the high alpine valleys of the Champsaur-Valgaudemar and the Cooksound in Forcalquier has been delighting music and food lovers for ten years. An inner circle just waiting to grow.

Feast Days

From the Côte d’Azur to Provence, the Région Sud is celebrating the joy of life in the open air. Regional plants and products also benefit from the exceptional climate. Corsos and markets distil all the joys of lavender around Digne-les-Bains. At the end of August, the Solliès-Pont fig celebrates its IGP, which also includes jams and syrups… On August 28, le ban des Vendanges signs the start of the grape harvest season in the Côtes-du-Rhône with the famous mammoth picnic and the procession of the Confréries. And this year, near Manosque, the biggest open-air agricultural fair in Europe. Why bother to take the plane when you can change continents with the Fêtes latino-mexicaines in Barcelonnette? And in Briançon, the medieval festival takes you on a trip back in time as you enter the fortified walls and rediscover forgotten savoir-faire.

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Celebrations

An exotic gift! This autumn, two great men will be breathing a wind of the saga on the shores of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The historical re-enactment of Napoleon’s landing on his return from the campaign in Egypt, will be accompanied in Saint-Raphaël by exhibitions and symposiums on the birth of Egyptology and the Orientalist movement. The event will take place for the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon. Gustave Flaubert was born in 1821 and the Mucem in Marseille will be celebrating his work. Salammbô, the sensual heroine of his masterpiece has had generations dreaming! Comics, archaeology, photography, literature and painting will explore the fascination of the fantasy about the Punic Wars. In another vein, Arles is also celebrating in 2021 its listing on the UNESCO world Heritage and the vin de Bellet, the only vineyard to be found in a metropolitan area, is celebrating the 80th anniversary of its Protected Designation of Origin.

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