Everything is light

In the south, the senses are sharpened. The hands become more nimble, the eyes more alert, and the mind clearer.
Vincent van Gogh

The development of tourism on what is now the Côte d’Azur began in the late 18th century with Tobias Smollett’s travelogue *Travels through France and Italy*. In it, the English writer describes the Mediterranean coast of France as a land where the light shines brighter than elsewhere, the sky is more benevolent, and the sun shines more often. The mild winter climate soon attracted nobility from Great Britain, as well as from Germany and Russia, to Nice, which, together with its surrounding area, transformed into the Riviera. Along the coast, sophisticated hotels and villa districts sprang up, parks were laid out, and tropical plants were acclimatized. In 1916, Henri Matisse spent a convalescent stay in Medon and subsequently settled in nearby Nice, where he stayed at the Hotel Beau-Rivage.

Starting in 1923, the art-collecting couple Hedy and Arthur Hahnloser also spent their winters in the milder climate of the south due to Hedy’s health, where they maintained regular contact with their artist friends Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard.

The previous generation had already discovered the South: Paul Cézanne, born in Aix-en-Provence, returned to his homeland after his stay in Paris and devoted himself thereafter to the southern landscape. In doing so, he succeeded in moving beyond the Impressionist style in favor of a flat, organized representation “parallel to nature.”

In 1888, while traveling south, Vincent van Gogh settled in Arles, where he hoped to realize his long-cherished dream of establishing a studio in the south as an artists’ colony. The idea failed; however, it resulted in countless paintings of dazzling landscapes, through which he made his mark on art history.

The exhibition *Tout est lumière* brings together sun-drenched masterpieces—paintings, watercolors, and drawings—from Cézanne to Matisse, in which, in the spirit of van Gogh, the senses are heightened and artistic thought is clarified.

Curated by Konrad Bitterli, Andrea Lutz, and David Schmidhauser

Contributors and additional information:

Paul Cézanne

Vincent van Gogh

Henri Matisse

Henri Charles Manguin

Pierre Bonnard

Albert Marquet

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Ker-Xaver Roussel

Edouard Vuillard