Dream Destination 2011

Day three of Kat's  Reverb 2011 asked us to reflect on what was our dream destination of 2011; and why we had wanted to visit this particular place. The place could be real or imaginary, and it didn't matter whether we had actually managed to get there or not.

Earlier this year I wrote here about one of my(many) dream destinations, here is some of what I wrote......

I was particularly taken some time ago, with the idea of Matisse designing the breathtakingly beautiful Rosaire Chapel in the town of Vence in the South East of France. When I saw this BBC documentary about Matisse and learned how he had designed the whole of this Chapel in the last years of his life, I fell in love with the place and with his work.

Another aspect of the story of this Chapel that really moved me was that Matisse designed it as a thank you gift to a young nurse, Monique Bourgeois, who cared for him following his operation for bowel cancer. Monique also liked art and drawing, and she modelled for him, later entering a Dominican convent. Following her Ordination as Sister Jacques-Marie, she confided in Matisse that she wished to decorate the oratory fitted out by the nuns in one of the rooms in their convent. Matisse worked for four years with the community and architects to create this amazing space.

This clip from the BBC documentary really shows the beauty of the Chapel. The presenter himself is so moved by the fact that Matisse had by this late stage of his life, come to work just with only the light itself as his material. Almost symbolic of his search for inner peace through his work.

Matisse was first given a box of paints by his mother, who had bought them to cheer him up following a mysterious illness at the age of nineteen. Some biographers think the illness was depression and Matisse is quoted as saying that when he held this "box of colours" in his hands he knew it was his life...."like an animal that plunges headlong towards what it loves, I dived right in...it was a sort of paradise found."

I would love to visit this place one day.

 

I am very glad to say that I did visit the Chapel in October when we were staying nearby in Nice. I still cannot post photographs at the moment but will add one tomorrow when I hope my computer will be back up and running again.

However, I did not take any photos inside, as the taking of photographs was not allowed inside the chapel at all. On arrival we joined a large coach party of tourists, who had also just arrived, queueing outside the door waiting for two o'clock and opening time.

We were herded into the Chapel and one of the Nuns spoke to us about Matisse and the design of the chapel. She was very strict and hushed several noisy tourists who just couldn't be quiet. I was quite disappointed that we didn't have the place to ourselves and when almost everyone had gone down the long corridor to the shop and exhibition area, I went back into the chapel and sat down to watch the light.

Beautiful.