So Here's Our Vacation Blog...

This morning we drove to Ceret.  Where?  Yes, Ceret.  Nobody ever heard about this place, but it’s absolutely serene.  A beautiful little town much like Collioure, but with no cars, no tour buses, just peaceful and quiet.  It was like we stepped back into the 1920s.

Picasso found this place in 1911, and through the years Miro, Chagall, Matisse, and others have lived here, developing new techniques and styles of painting.  The Musee d’Art Moderne was built in the 1950s, and the now famous artists supported it by donating works that cannot be viewed except to come to this museum - they don’t go on tour.  We wanted to see the Picassos, but in addition there was a huge exhibit of Andre Masson’s works, which we didn’t particularly enjoy.  Very dire, evil, upsetting, with devils and abnormal people doing who knows what, but it was very unsettling.  If you see  there’s a Masson exhibit and are tempted to go, be careful.  The permanent exhibit more than made up for it.  Picasso was asked to do a series of pottery dishes, and produced 28 of them in six days - absolutely amazing when you see the detail and realize he had to come up with all those images in such a short time.  They’re absolutely beautiful, and I was able to photograph every single one.

In addition, he did a set of eight terra cotta platters with a similar motif, also stunning.  I had to talk Marge out of hiding one under her sweater because she loved them so much.

Another ceramic piece I just loved was this pitcher, which had such a stunning graphic I just stared at it for 20 minutes!

The coup de grace was a very famous piece Picasso did in 1944, when he became a Communist and was trying to raise support for global peace (this is interesting, worth looking up).  He was asked to do a piece for a conference and came up with Sardane de la Paix, a very simple black and white image of people doing a traditional Catalan dance.  Absolutely beautiful in its simplicity and message.  Makes you smile just looking at it.  This is the original piece, and to my knowledge has never been shown outside the museum in Ceret, so if you want to see it, plan a visit to southern France!

Finally, there were a few pieces by Miro, who I have always admired.  This six foot tall sculpture had its own room, and for good reason.  Very thought provoking, and the shapes are jarring! 

We were fortunate to have been able to see these originals - very privileged indeed.  So we drove back to Collioure and decompressed,  went down to the beach for a swim, did a little shopping, had (you guessed it) a bottle of rose on the balcony, and out to dinner.  If that sounds boring, you haven’t had French cooking in France.  Something as simple as a garden salad is turned into a work of art by adding melted goat cheese on top of a baguette, cooking it somehow, and sprinkling cumin (yes, cumin, of all things) on top.  I think I just found my favorite salad.  Marge is not going to be happy preparing one of these for me every night! 

On the way home we walked along the harbor and hung around to watch a French military team doing drills in the water.  They’ve been out here for several days, swimming as a group across the harbor and back, but tonight was a little different.  Most were in black wetsuits, some in camouflaged wetsuits, and all carrying guns (AR-15 looking things, obviously semi-automatic or better).  They were loading up inflatable boats and heading out to the middle of the harbor where I think they were supposed to swim back in.  Hope they don’t meet any big fish along the way!

So we’re off to bed, and tomorrow is another winery tour day.  Cheers!