A place of peace and tranquility in Provence, France

Conor Power visits a chapel in the French region of Provence which was completely designed by artist Henri Matisse as a tribute to a woman who took care of him when he was diagnosed with cancer in 1941.

THE Chapelle du Rosaire in the southern French town of Vence might come as quite a revelation to many who wouldn’t normally see the direct association between a Catholic place of worship and a member of the scandalous, absinthe-swilling, expressionist painters.

Then again, Henri Matisse was, strictly-speaking more of a fauvist than an expressionist. In 1951, as he lay on his death-bed, this small place of worship was officially opened to an expectant public.

It’s run by the Dominican nuns and Matisse designed the entire thing — from the physical structure of the building down to the style of seating, the stained-glass windows and, of course, the interior décor that includes his distinctive simplistic art-work.

How he came to do this is another story, but how one finds this particular church for oneself is straightforward enough.

Located about a 20-minute drive from Nice International Airport, the town of Vence is a pretty commune, where the vast majority of its houses have sprawled outside of its small, almost circular mediaeval centre — clearly defined by a ring of buildings that used to be ramparts.

The discreet entrance to the chapel is off the Avenue Henri Matisse. We had been forewarned about ensuring that the place was open and that you don’t arrive in the middle of a service.

This is still a functioning Catholic place of worship so it is liable to be closed to tourists at a given hour of the day.

Spartan concrete steps leading from the front door bring you to a kiosk, where a smiling aged nun gave us our tickets and waved us through.

As you step through into the nave of this chapel, the initial effect can be underwhelming. I’m no fan of modern art and I do like my classical paintings of wondrous scenes that looked like they took several years of toil, pain and buckets of paint to create.

My first impression was that this one could have been done in a couple of hours with a large black marker and some second-hand bathroom windows from the ’70s.

I briefly wondered if this was the room you go through to get to the chapel itself. It didn’t look like he’d blown the budget on the seating arrangements either.

“Is this it?” I whispered to my wife, who ignored my impertinent question and kept looking around in that slow reverential way that one must do when looking around a church.

But it’s then that it hits you: this was designed as a place of prayer and a place of peace. In here, you hear no traffic noise, there are no distractions and no elaborate swirls nor intricate coving.

There is no suffocating grandeur and no stuffy pomp. You feel at once welcome and humbled.

The light is the first thing that you notice when you power down to the low rhythm of life inside the Chapelle du Rosaire.

The stained-glass windows of blues, yellows and greens produce a calming effect as the sunlight enters through them, playing across the large expanses of white on the walls of the church, as well as on the simple-patterned ceramic tiles of the floor.

The religious depictions on the walls are sparse and feature the Stations of the Cross, Madonna-and-Child and Saint Dominic. Matisse’s versions, however, are done in his trademark simplistic style of black and white outlines with no trace of domineering bombast.

All the elements that went into the design and construction of the chapel were very carefully chosen: from the locally-sourced Gard stone for its colour that resembles that of the Eucharistic Host to the cross on the roof of the chapel with its moon-and-flames shape, down to every stick of décor and furniture chosen for its beauty and simplicity.

And in case you were in any doubt of just how much effort Matisse put into creating the deceptively simple-looking artwork, there’s an exhibition as you leave the church depicting several sketches and drawings that he used to create the final product.

Matisse, it turns out, was not a particularly religious man. His devotion to creating this church (a labour of love that took him four years to complete) stemmed from his devotion to a woman named Monique Bourgeois, who took care of Matisse when he was diagnosed with cancer in 1941.

She became a Dominican nun, taking the name Sister Jacques-Marie and the church was created as much in her honour as it was in honour of the Almighty.

Despite being agnostic when it came to belief, Matisse claimed that his greatest piece of work was an entire church.

In the speech that was read out on his behalf at the consecration ceremony of the chapel, he said:

“This work required me four years of an exclusive and all-consuming effort and it is the fruit of my whole working life. In spite of all its imperfections, I consider it as my masterpiece.”

Amen to that.

GETTING THERE

Flights:

Aer Lingus operate direct flights from Dublin to Nice, (they axed the Cork/ Nice flight for 2015), four times a week increasing to a daily schedule from the 29th of March to the end of October www.aerlingus.com

Where to Stay:

Nice is the perfect spot to base yourself, with its bubbling southern city life — a perfect blend of Italy and France.

A great mid-range option is the Hôtel Windsor ( www.hotelwindsornice.com , 0033 4.93.88.59.35).

Not only is it affordable, but it’s within walking distance of all the hot spots, has a swimming pool in the flowering garden out the back and features a quirky mixture of rooms themed on artists. Try to get the Matisse room, where the morning sunlight streams through the stained-glass window.

What to Eat:

Provence is truly one of the most delicious and healthy places to eat in all of France. Try anything local - particularly the aïoli— a fully-balanced salad consisting of tuna, anchovies, fresh lettuces, boiled eggs and a garlic/salt/lemon juice laced mayonnaise dressing.

Lunch at the Colombe d’Or is a special experience ( www.la-colombe-dor.com +33.4.93.32.80.02).

You need to book in advance here, but the location is exquisite: at the edge of St Paul de Vence, you enter through a wooden doorway in the wall to a large vine-covered terrace with a view.

Inside, the spirit of several artists, writers, thinkers and celebrities lives on, some of whom paid for their meal with the priceless artwork on the walls.

Where to Shop:

Vence Market takes place at the Place du Grand Jardin every day. It abounds with all kinds of local products -—that means a bewildering range of produce and goods — including perfume from nearby Grasse and honeys magically infused with the tastes of the garrigue (a mixture of all the herbaceous plants that grow wild in these parts).

Check out the multi-generational Auer chocolate shop opposite the Opera House in Nice. If a small child could dream their ideal sweet shop into reality, this would be it.

Sights to See:

On no account should you miss out on a wander around the neighbouring town of St Paul de Vence 5km to the south. This village is an attraction in itself: a classic mediaeval village perché sitting high and pretty, overlooking the sea.

The Matisse Museum (Musee Matisse, 164 Avenue des Arènes de Cimiez, www.musee-matisse-nice.org, +33 4.93.81.08.08) is the place to go if you want to get the full flavour of what Henri Matisse was all about, apart from his all-consuming religious work.

Entry to the museum is €6 and it holds one of the largest collections of the artist’s work in the world. If you visit the fabulous flower market in Nice, you’ll see the house where he lived too - right at the end of the oblong square, painted in calming pastel yellow.