Van Gogh & the Artists in Provence

Van Gogh in Provence | Artistic Retreat · Mas des Figues Saint-Rémy

Immerse yourself in the unique light that inspired Van Gogh, Cézanne, Picasso, and Matisse. Stay at Mas des Figues to experience the Provence of the great artists.

In Saint-Rémy, light does not fall on things. It inhabits them.

For centuries, Provence has been more than just a territory. It's a force. A light that transforms everything it touches—stones, olive trees, faces, canvases. At Mas des Figues, you'll sleep 5 km from Saint-Paul-de-Mausole, where Van Gogh painted The Starry Night. The same blue sky. The same dark cypress trees. The same light.

🎨Van Gogh — the genius 5 km from the 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. Just one year. More than 150 works. Among the most powerful of his life. He painted with an urgency that resembled a prayer.

The Starry Night Over the Rhône — 1888, Arles

The Sunflowers — 1888, Arles

The Starry Night — 1889, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

· Les Iris — 1889, gardens of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole

· The Olive Trees — a series painted in the gardens of the asylum, visible from the Mas

The fields, cypress trees and Alpilles ridges that he painted with his swirling brushstrokes are still there, intact, visible from your terrace at Mas.

Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse — light as an obsession

Cézanne spent his life painting Mont Sainte-Victoire — more than 80 canvases. He reinvented the way we saw the world. Picasso called him "the father of us all" and paid homage to him by buying the Château de Vauvenargues, at its foot.

Matisse settled in Nice in 1917 and stayed there for 27 years. It was here that his palette truly ignited. Bedridden at the end of his life, he invented cut-out gouaches—using scissors instead of brushes. The light of the South, even from his bed, had never left him.

✍️ Pagnol, Gounod, Mistral — when Provence inspires words

Mistral invited Gounod to Saint-Rémy with these words: "Provence and I are waiting for you." The composer settled there on March 23, 1863. Every morning, he walked in the valley of Saint-Clerg — a 20-minute walk from the Mas. Every evening, he would return to the church to play the notes that the Alpilles had whispered to him.

" Nearby, twenty minutes from Saint-Rémy, in the mountains, lies the most beautiful valley imaginable: it is pure Italy; it is even Greek. It was as pure as Mireille." — Charles Gounod, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 1863

For Pagnol, Provence wasn't just a backdrop—it was a character. You'll recognize in *La Gloire de mon Père* and *Manon des Sources* the same scrubland you've been crossing since *Le Mas*.

" Art is everywhere here. You just have to open your eyes."

— Philippe 🌿