Artists in Provence

Great artists inspired by Provence

For centuries, Provence has attracted artists from all over the world. Its unique light, contrasting landscapes, stone villages and timeless atmosphere have inspired some of the greatest painters, writers and creators in history.

During your stay at Mas des Figues, you are at the heart of this region that has given birth to some of the most famous works of world art. Just 3.5 km from Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and approximately 5 km from Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, where Van Gogh painted The Starry Night, you sleep in the landscape that these artists immortalized.

A light unique in the world

What is striking in Provence is the light. Pure, intense, changing throughout the hours, it transforms the landscapes and reveals the colours with an acuity that can be found nowhere else in Europe.

It is this light that has fascinated artists, inspiring them to capture it:

• the olive groves, silvered under the mistral
• the black cypresses silhouetted against the blue sky
• the limestone peaks of the Alpilles at sunset
• the ochre stone villages and the purple lavender

"There is such a pure, intense light here that it compels one to see differently." — Van Gogh, letter to Theo, Saint-Rémy, 1889

Van Gogh and the Alpilles — genius 5 km from Mas

It was in Saint-Paul-de-Mausole — about 5 km from Mas des Figues — that Vincent van Gogh stayed from May 1889 to May 1890. During this single year, he produced more than 150 works, among the most powerful of his career.

Arriving in Arles in 1888, he fell under the spell of the intense light and colorful landscapes of Provence. He then created some of his most famous works:

• The Starry Night Over the Rhône — 1888, Arles
• Sunflowers — 1888, Arles
• The Starry Night — 1889, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
• The Irises — 1889, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
• The Olive Trees — a series painted in the gardens of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole

The fields, cypress trees, and Alpilles mountain ridges that he painted with his swirling brushstrokes are still visible today from Mas des Figues. The same light, the same blue sky, the same black cypress trees—"that black patch in a sunny landscape, one of the hardest notes to hit accurately."

Cézanne and eternal Provence

If Provence had an emblematic artist, it would be Paul Cézanne. Born in Aix-en-Provence in 1839, he spent his life painting this region he loved obsessively. His favorite subject: Mont Sainte-Victoire, which he immortalized in more than 80 canvases under different lights, in different seasons, at different times of day.

Cézanne didn't just paint landscapes — he reinvented the way we saw the world. His geometric brushstrokes and unique palette influenced all of 20th-century painting, even Picasso, who nicknamed him "the father of us all".

• The Black Castle · The Bathers · The Hanged Man's House — bathed in Provençal light
• 10 oil paintings on canvas at the Granet Museum in Aix-en-Provence, including The Card Players
• His workshop in Aix is still open to visitors — custom-designed with a large bay window to capture the southern light
   

Picasso and Mediterranean freedom

Pablo Picasso had a decades-long love affair with Provence. In 1912, he worked in Sorgues with Braque and further developed his Cubist style. In 1914, he stayed in Avignon. And in 1958, captivated by Mont Sainte-Victoire, which Cézanne had so loved, he bought the Château de Vauvenargues at its foot—where he would live and create until his death in 1973.

Provence became for him a space of total freedom, where he explored new artistic forms without limits, far from the constraints of Paris.

• Mediterranean Landscape (1946) — a free interpretation of Provençal landscapes
• Montagne Sainte-Victoire (1959) — a direct homage to Cézanne
• Picasso Museum in Antibes — exceptional collection of his Provençal works

Matisse and Colour — 27 Years Under the Southern Sun

Henri Matisse settled in Nice in 1917 and stayed there for 27 years. The Mediterranean light radically transformed his work on color and the simplification of forms—it was here that the style that would make him famous was fully born. In 1943, he took refuge in Vence where he designed and decorated the Chapelle du Rosaire, which he considered his absolute masterpiece.

• Interior in Nice · Dance — classics born under the heat of the French Riviera
• The Chapel of the Rosary in Vence (1951) — brilliant stained glass windows and clean lines
• His famous cut-out gouaches, created from his bed despite his fragile health

Pagnol, Camus, Zola — when Provence inspires words

Provence has not only fascinated painters. Its landscapes, its light and its inhabitants have nourished some of the greatest French writers.

Marcel Pagnol — born in Aubagne, died in everyone's heart

For Pagnol, Provence wasn't just a backdrop—it was a character. Born in Aubagne in 1895, he immortalized his native land in stories that evoke the sound of cicadas and the scent of the garrigue. My Father's Glory, Manon of the Spring, Jean de Florette—these are just some of the works in which the Provençal hills speak as much as the people.

Albert Camus — Lourmarin, his refuge and his tomb

Camus settled in Lourmarin (Luberon) in 1958. The raw, luminous beauty of Provence provided a fitting setting for his thoughts on the absurd and the human condition. It was here that he wrote some of his last texts. He is buried in the village's small cemetery.

Émile Zola — Aix, childhood and roots

A childhood friend of Cézanne, Zola grew up in Aix-en-Provence. The landscapes of his childhood permeate his naturalist novels. In La Fortune des Rougon, he describes Aix under the name "Plassans" — with places that still exist today.

A land of ever-living inspiration

Even today, Provence continues to inspire contemporary painters, photographers, writers, filmmakers, and artists from all over the world. Art is everywhere:

• in the landscapes — the same light as that of Van Gogh and Cézanne
• in the villages — the same stones as those in Pagnol
• in the way of life — slowness, sensuality, authenticity
• in the markets, the smells, the colors of the gardens

At Mas des Figues, Philippe has been cultivating this same land since 1998—the olive trees that Van Gogh painted, the light that Cézanne sought out, the landscapes that Pagnol celebrated. Here, art isn't in a museum. It's outside, alive, every hour of the day.

Experiencing Provence like an artist

Staying at Mas des Figues means discovering this artistic Provence from the inside — not as a spectator, but as a temporary inhabitant of a living territory.

Here you can:

• observe the light at sunrise on the Alpilles — the light of Van Gogh, about 5 km away
• walk through the landscapes that inspired the painters — via the Alpines canal to Saint-Rémy
• drink a wine grown on the estate, IGP Alpilles, Syrah and Grenache
• eating what Philippe picked at dawn from his organic vegetable garden — Garden → Kitchen → Table
• Visit Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, Glanum, and the Roman ruins — by bike from Le Mas
• slow down, feel, live at the rhythm of an ancient territory

"I wanted to paint Provence as it is—alive, violent, luminous." — Vincent van Gogh

Discover availability and experience Provence in a different way