Matisse’s Flower Market
In Nice’s Old Town, Art Imitates Life
Stalls of flowers carve their way through Place Charles Felix in the old town of Nice, in what is known as the Marché aux Fleurs. The Market of Flowers.
Striped reds and greens decorate the tarpaulin canopies, shading the hawker’s heads from the blue Rivieran sky. This market stands between the conflicting identities that dominate the avenues of old Nice. The baroque Chapel of Mercy stands sentinel over the flower market on one side of the street, sombre marble figures lining the walls of the interior. The statues glare outside the chapel doors, visible to market patrons, as a reminder of what was. A strain to maintain relevance.
Meanwhile, back to the market, fronts to the flat sea of the Mediterranean shining a deep blue, the brasseries across the street clash with the gravitas of this nearby religion. Stylish people drink expensive wine under the provencial sun, pleasure and diversion of the French Riviera on full display. Ferraris, Maseratis and Porsches rumble by, almost more common a sight than the work vans of the city’s blue collar inhabitants.
And yet, the most interesting thing about the market is not the glory of the chapel, nor the indulgence of the wealthy. It’s the butterscotch yellow mansion that stands at the end of Place Charles Felix, glaring down the middle of the market, entirely ignorant of the contrasting identities of old Nice.
This building was once home to Henri Matisse, who fell in love with Nice and eventually spent his last living days in the city. Matisse was known as one of the “Fauvists”, translated to English as the Wild Beasts, and he is rightfully lauded for his contributions that resulted in artistic modernism.
But nowhere is the statement Art Imitates Life as true as it is here, and standing at the end of the street where Matisse surely once stood, a person realises they’re bathed in the origin of the artist’s palette.
Pastel oranges and yellows coat the exterior of the buildings. Dark blues, cavernous in their depth, radiate from the nearby sea. Tulips being bartered in the market sing out in every colour known to nature. And the people themselves radiate their own colour and vibrancy, etching their stories into the picture of Nice’s old town.
Looking down from the fourth floor balcony of his mansion on Place Charles Felix, he was Matisse the apprentice. Studying from the master known as Marché aux Fleurs.
