London exhibition explores the French Riviera's role in modern art
The exhibition "Painting the French Riviera" in London brings together more than 120 works showing how the Mediterranean coast shaped modern art. It runs in London until 31 January 2027.
An exhibition titled "Painting the French Riviera" is under way in London, examining how France's Mediterranean coast became a major source of inspiration for modern artists between the 1870s and the 1960s. Visitors can see more than 120 paintings, sculptures and drawings, supplemented by film excerpts, books and travel posters. The London showing runs until 31 January 2027; details are available at royalacademy.org.uk.
The artists and their Riviera
Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Berthe Morisot, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Yves Klein and others drew on the region's bright light, deep blue skies and glittering sea. The organisers present the Riviera not only as a place of leisure but as a symbol of creative and spiritual renewal.
Works by Cézanne, Renoir and Morisot show early interest in the area, while a separate room is devoted to Monet's visits to the south of France in the 1880s. Pointillist works by the Neo-Impressionists Paul Signac, Henri-Edmond Cross and Théo van Rysselberghe capture the shimmer of southern light. For them the south was also a utopian ideal tied to artistic freedom and social progress.
Fauvists, Picasso and later abstraction
The show includes works by the Fauvists Henri Matisse, André Derain and Georges Braque. Matisse arrived in Saint-Tropez in 1904 and later spent time in Nice, where he produced many of his best-known interiors and sea views; these hang alongside paintings by Raoul Dufy. Another room is dedicated to Pierre Bonnard. Picasso's output (paintings, watercolours, ceramics) spans the 1920s to the early 1960s.
The exhibition ends with works by Nicolas de Staël and Yves Klein, who depicted the sea, sky and colours of the Azure coast in abstract terms. The closing section screens excerpts from Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" (starring Grace Kelly and Cary Grant), Jacques Demy's "Bay of Angels" (Jeanne Moreau and Claude Mann), and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's "The Red Shoes".
The works come from museums around the world and private collections. The project was developed with the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it will be shown from 14 March to 11 July 2027.
