Following an earlier African safari adventure, a Santa Barbara resident recently fulfilled the second item on her bucket list with an art-focused journey through southern France. The traveler joined the Santa Barbara Museum of Art's "South of France Contemporary and Timeless Masterpieces" trip, describing the experience as "art immersion" comparable to "eating a whole box of chocolates."
Unlike her previous African expedition, this European adventure required no special vaccinations or safari attire. The Mediterranean climate mirrored Santa Barbara's weather, with a flight time half as long and no restrictive luggage weight limits. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art requires membership for trip registration, with most excursions offering tax-deductible portions for participants.
What distinguishes the museum's travel program is its pre-tour gatherings, allowing travelers to become acquainted before departure. The institution has been organizing global tours for over 50 years, conducting approximately twelve trips annually with accompanying scholars. After reviewing the detailed itinerary with a neighbor, the author decided to participate in the 10-day adventure.
The tour format doesn't appeal to everyone and differs significantly from leisurely poolside vacations. The itinerary maintains a fast pace with group-driven activities, requiring early morning starts, full-day venue visits, extensive walking, and climbing stairs in historic châteaux and museums. Physical fitness was explicitly outlined as a prerequisite, though many participants decades older than the author navigated the demands without difficulty.
This active travel style may contribute to longevity, as evidenced by the author's daily 11,000-step count despite indulging in croissants, cappuccinos, apple galettes, baguettes with fresh butter, local wines, and delectable cheeses. The structured tour format eliminated stress over decision-making regarding destinations, dining, accommodations, navigation, currency conversion, and foreign language communication.
Tour manager Cy Britt handled all complications, including the author's forgotten daily medication. Santa Barbara Museum of Art staff host Amy Davidson collaborated with Lisa Benshea to organize the comprehensive itinerary. Local expert Cecelia Auber demonstrated extraordinary talent for weaving together cultural, historical, and artistic narratives with a delightful personality, rich expertise, and skill at managing stragglers.
The diverse group of 23 participants came from across the United States, including Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Montana. Many were art collectors and connoisseurs. The first day involved checking into the legendary Carlton Cannes, a luxury Regent Hotel in the heart of the French Riviera and one of the most breathtaking symbols of the Côte d'Azur.
The Carlton Cannes has served as home to the Cannes Film Festival since 1939, known for glitz, glamour, and iconic films like Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. The first evening featured a meet-and-greet at bistro Le Voilier Cannes, followed by a night of luxurious accommodations. The next morning's breakfast was described as a work of art itself.
The group departed for Mougins with a guided tour of FAMM (Femmes Artistes Musée Mougins), an unparalleled museum dedicated to repositioning women in art history. Despite numerous talented women artists, most escaped historical recognition, becoming wives and mothers as socially expected. Collections ranged from Mary Cassatt to contemporary art.
Subsequent visits included the Musée National Marc Chagall, created during Marc Chagall's lifetime and housing more than 300 of the painter's works. According to Auber, the museum has become a fully-fledged monographic institution of Chagall's work. The group proceeded to the Musée Matisse in a 17th-century Nice villa, home to one of the largest collections from Henri Matisse, following the artist's development from the 1890s to his final works, including personal objects.
The first day concluded with a special welcome dinner at a private art collector's home in Cannes. Sunday brought a guided tour of the Musée Picasso in Antibes, created during Pablo Picasso's lifetime in the Château Grimaldi. In 1946, the castle served as Picasso's studio, and when he returned to Paris, he left 13 paintings and 44 sketches. The museum expanded through exceptional acquisitions, including works by Joan Miró.
The afternoon included Foundation Maeght, a prominent art foundation opened in 1964, showcasing Marguerite and Aimé Maeght's collection of modern and contemporary art in gardens and a striking building designed by Catalan architect Josep Lluís Sert. The following day, the group ventured to Le Muy for the Venet Foundation, established at minimalist artist Bernar Venet's home and displayed within his sprawling residential cultural park.
Venet's collection incorporates pieces from Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, and Carl Andre. The afternoon brought the group to Correns, a charming small Provence town, for an outdoor lunch and studio visit with Australian artists Shona Nunan and Michael-Francis Cartwright, featuring art, lemon mousse cake, and coffee.
The next day offered a deep dive into Paul Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence, with a guided tour of Jas de Bouffan, the historic estate where Cézanne spent significant time. A special exhibition featured more than 130 paintings, drawings, and watercolors. The afternoon concluded spectacularly at Château La Coste, which opened in 2011 as a working organic vineyard and plein-air museum featuring works by Louise Bourgeois, Richard Serra, Andy Goldsworthy, Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer, and Frank Gehry.
The art center, designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, is surrounded by 200 acres of vineyards, olive groves, pines, and oaks. After three days in Cannes, the group relocated to Arles, staying at the small family-run boutique Hotel B Design & Spa, which proved more satisfactory for the group's needs.
Midway through the trip, the group headed to Barjac to explore the work of Anselm Kiefer, a renowned post-World War II German artist whose work addressed controversial issues from recent history. Private tour guide Alison Bracker provided a slide presentation unpacking Kiefer's intellectually rigorous work at Eschaton, featuring more than 60 buildings and art areas.
The following day brought a full excursion to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Monastère de St-Paul-de-Mausole, where Vincent van Gogh lived and worked for more than a year. Despite selling only one piece during his lifetime and suffering from severe mental illness, van Gogh created 143 oil paintings and more than 100 drawings in 53 weeks while confined at the asylum.
The visit coincided with weekly market day in Saint-Rémy, allowing some participants to lunch while others toured a photography exhibit headlined by David Bowie or visited the Musée Granet. Near the journey's end, the group took a walking tour of Arles and visited the Lee Ufan Foundation in a renovated museum. Lee Ufan, a Korean-born artist, has exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York City, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., and Serpentine Galleries in London.
The day before departure featured a tour of LUMA Arles, a 27-acre contemporary art center. The LUMA Tower, designed by Frank Gehry, was inspired by van Gogh's "The Starry Night," painted in Arles in 1889. The farewell dinner at L'Adresse, an Arles sidewalk café specializing in Mediterranean-French cuisine, provided the perfect conclusion to the journey.
The emotional final evening allowed participants to toast each other, their guides, and share one last glass of champagne with their travel companions. Returning home proved bittersweet, with joy at reuniting with family and pets tempered by missing the camaraderie of newfound friendships. The author continues dreaming of the recent adventure and the beauty that exists in this part of the world, having actually walked in the footsteps of Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Cézanne, and van Gogh in the Provence-Côte d'Azur region.
