A Gigantic Hug from Antibes

As an outdoor project commissioned by the Ville d’Antibes and the Picasso Museum, the Nomade is settled at the top terrace of Bastion Saint-Jaume. This perpetual monumental installation allows the visitors to get inside and travel within it. Reaching beyond its constituent materials, its space, all emptiness and silence opens up to the sea and spreads out before it.

In the 5th century, trading port Antipolis was established by Greeks, in between the construction of Massalia (aka Marseille) and Nikaia (aka Nice). When the Roman empire collapsed, frequent raids were made by Saracen. As the town no longer met the necessary requirements for the free flow of people and goods, Pope Innocent IV transferred the Episcopal See to Grasse in 1243.

Once Provence was annexed to France in 1481, Antibes became the stronghold of the kingdom. The county of Nice was the reason why France and the House of Savoy fought over many years, until 1860. Since it lost its strategic importance, the town started its expansion to Cap d'Antibes for horticulture and Juan-les-Pins for tourism, as the biggest fashionable summer destination.

“If you want to see the Picassos from Antibes, you have to see them in Antibes.” — Pablo Picasso

This coastline offers a heartwarming welcome to the international elite. Used to be a historical monument, the Grimaldi castle was a two-month workshop for Pablo Picasso, producing a wide range of paintings and drawings. A room was dedicated to Picasso in 1947. It was the Mayor of Antibes who later on decided to change the Grimaldi museum into the Picasso museum in 1966.

Picasso allowed himself to be won over by the harmony of the place, which impregnated in his first few works “Nature morte à la sole et à l'aiguière”, notably its colours, austere, solid and luminous, which smooth surfaces contrasted with roughness of the fibrocement; while “La Joie de vivre” suggested that how busy the centaur, faun and nymph dancing, fishing and bathing.

The theme of the nude was classically appeared in Picasso’s work. Each nude figure not only reflects what lives inside his painting at a given time, but it is also an expression of the reality of the female body. In “Nu couché au lit blanc”, the simplicity of the geometry is a language. While developing its formal perfection, the spiral “tells” of the rolling up of the arms around the head.

Accueillir avec un gros câlin

Comment les Français saluent quelqu'un ? On se serre la main lors d'une rencontre formelle, tandis qu'on fait la bise à sa famille et à ses amis. Et si une ville accueille les visiteurs avec un gros câlin ?

Le nomade est une installation artistique qui a été commandée par la Ville d'Antibes et le Musée Picasso. Son corps est composé de l'alphabet du français avec un espace accessible. Le nomade est assis sur la terrasse du Bastion Saint-Jaume, en attendant que nous appréciions sa beauté intérieure.

« Si vous voulez voir les Picasso d'Antibes, venez à Antibes », disait Pablo Picasso.

À l’intérieur de la vieille ville, Pablo Picasso salue les visiteurs à la manière artistique. Il ne faut pas que vous manquiez le musée Picasso. Quand il vivait au château Grimaldi, ce peintre espagnol a été inspiré par la nature. À mon avis, « La Joie de vivre » est synonyme de la soirée dansante du centaure, de la faune et de la nymphe.

Regardez. Cette cité des remparts ouvre les bras et nous accueille avec la mer, la brise et surtout les art œuvres.