THE PYRENEES ❘ GREAT DESTINATIONS


Clockwise from main: Colourful Collioure; the harbour at Saint-Jean-de-Luz; biking is a great way to explore the Corbières Massif; the picturesque Côte Vermeille; the city of Perpignan; Lac de Payolle is an artificial lake at the foot of Col d’Aspin; inset, beautiful Bayonne is the home of the famous ham


the Med in the afternoon. The light in this part of the world is quite phenomenal. The sea here is often calm, producing very little surf to break the sun’s reflection on the surface of the water. Long days of uninterrupted sunshine and the many pastel-coloured buildings and orange roofs create a heady mixture of brightness and colour. This is what has attracted so many artists to Collioure over the years. There are now more than 40 art galleries and artists’ studios dotted around town, many of them dedicated to Fauvism, the art movement that flourished here in the early 20th century, drawing in luminaries such as Henri Matisse, André Derain, Étienne Terrus, Aristide Maillol and George-Daniel de Monfreid. Other famous artists such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Raoul Dufy also came here to paint. “No sky in all France is more blue than that of Collioure,” Matisse once famously enthused. Nowadays, the Maison de Fauvisme offers several guided tours. From Collioure, it’s a short drive north to Perpignan. The centre of Catalan culture in France, this city was the capital of the Kingdom of Mallorca in the Middle Ages. Nowadays, if you listen carefully, you’ll still


❯❯ Aug/Sep 2022 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 111


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