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.