. 

ANTIBES - JUAN LES PINS  

www.antibesjuanlespins.com

Antibes is a resort town of southeastern France, on the Mediterranean Sea in the Côte d'Azur, located between Cannes and Nice. It is c. 20 km by rail southwest of Nice, and is situated on the east side of the Garoupe peninsula. Its inhabitants are called Antibois or Antipolitains. It was formerly fortified, but all the ramparts (save the Fort Carré, built by Vauban, and the ramparts along the sea coast) were demolished in the 1860s. A new town then rose outside the former defenses. Antibes has the largest yacht marina (by total tonnage) on the Côte d'Azur, built in the 1960s on the site of a Roman harbor. There is still a local fishing industry, much diminished from its size a century ago. It was formerly a site of perfume distilling; the surrounding country once produced an abundance of flowers. Perfume distillation is still carried out on a commercial scale in nearby Grasse.

TOURISM:

The major attractions of Antibes are its history, climate, art, beaches and yachting. The sand beaches of Antibes are all manmade; the natural beaches are gravel (shingle in British English); in summer, these beaches are maintained using large tractors towing a device which scoops-up, sieves, spreads, and rakes the sand. Antibes' beaches east of Fort Carré (that is, going toward Nice) are still the original rough materials.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Next to Fort Carré, facing the N 98 Bord de Mer highway is a marble statue of a World War I soldier, said to be the tallest war memorial in France. Unfortunately, he is holding his rifle at Order Arms (rifle held vertically, butt on the ground, barrel held near muzzle end) next to his LEFT leg, which is a gross mistake since Order Arms is only alongside the RIGHT leg; French veterans reportedly went berserk over this egregious error.

Antibes has one of the largest yacht marinas on the Côte d'Azur, built in the 1960s on the site of a Roman harbor. There is still a local fishing industry, much diminished from its size a century ago. It was formerly a site of perfume distilling; the surrounding country once produced an abundance of flowers. Perfume distillation is still carried out on a commercial scale in nearby Grasse.
The major attractions of Antibes are its history, climate, art, beaches and yachting

MUSEE PICASSO

While searching for a studio, Pablo Picasso came across the Château Grimaldi and decided to work there in 1946. He completed dozens of works that he later donated to the Museum. You'll also see works by Ernst, Magnelli, Picabia, Balthus, Atlan, Hartung.
Picasso Museum
In 1925, the State fixed a sale price of F80,000 on the Chateau Grimaldi, and it was bought by Antibes Council (with a F50,000 subsidy and money raised through sixty donations organised by the Society of Friends). The chateau thus became the Grimaldi Museum, and Romuald Sor de la Souchère was the curator. Three years later, the building was classified as a historic monument.
From August 1946, Picasso and his young companion, Françoise Gilot, stayed with the printer Louis Fort at his villa "Pour Toi" in Golfe Juan port. Sculptor and photographer Michel Sima became acquainted with Romuald Dor de la Souchère, who knew Pablo Picasso. "One day at the beach, he had the idea to ask him for a little drawing for the museum. Picasso, as was his style, said that he would do it, but wanted first to visit the museum." (Jaime Sabartès in Picasso in Antibes, René Drouin, publisher, 1948)
Picasso was enthusiastic: "I'm not only going to paint, I'll decorate the museum too." (Francoise Gilot in Living with Picasso, Calmann-Levy 1965). He worked at the chateau from mid-September to mid-November and produced a great deal of work, both drawings and paintings, among them The Keys of Antibes, on a wall panel. In September 1947, he painted Ulysses and the mermaids.