Rowley Gallery Blog
This is probably one of the most famous lavender fields in all of France. It is cultivated by the monks of the Abbaye de Sénanque and blooms in early summer. By the time we got here it was all over. We hadn’t intended to come but the road from Venasque to Gordes was closed at Sénanque and we could go no further, so we turned around in the car park. That was the nearest we got. Continue reading “Three French Abbeys”
This was the antithesis of Château la Coste. The Palais des Papes in Avignon is the biggest Gothic palace in the world and the most visited monument in France. It is huge and noisy and crowded. There are signs and notices everywhere telling you where to go, what to look at, what to photograph, what not to photograph. Continue reading “Palais Des Papes”
Château la Coste is a vineyard 15km north of Aix-en-Provence which, since 2004, has become home to a remarkable collection of art and architecture. Signs have been kept to a minimum and the entrance was not immediately obvious, but we eventually found our way to the elegant, new art centre designed by Tadao Ando and emerged alongside Crouching Spider by Louise Bourgeois. Continue reading “Château La Coste”
This is the Street of Wheels in L’Isle sur la Sorgue, Provence, France. The town once had seventy waterwheels, all powered by the Sorgue river, driving mills for grinding grain, making paper and weaving silk. Nowadays the river turns fourteen vestigial wheels driving the tourist circuit around the town. We came here on holiday and stayed in the house on the right by the street lamp. Continue reading “Rue Des Roues”
Nous sommes en vacances.
Voici une jolie chanson.
Moussu T e lei Jovents
I was looking at Greg Becker’s Pinterest page, The Wild Allotment, a lovely collection of green-fingered imagery and a great escape from our endless winter. It got me thinking about visits to other, slightly more manicured gardens, but most importantly gardens filled with sunshine. Indulge me while I recall warmer days. This is Le Prieuré d’Orsan where we stayed for one memorable night in 2006. Continue reading “Five French Gardens”
More Couperin by Alexandre Tharaud in this vidéo charmant by Elise McLeod.
Duke Ellington and Joan Miró at Fondation Maeght in St Paul de Vence, Côte d’Azur, France.
August 1954, aged 77, Pablo Casals performs Bach’s G-Major Suite for solo cello at Abbaye Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa near Prades in the French Pyrénées.
In an ancient abbey in the south of France I once heard invisible plainsong. I realised eventually that it came not from speakers, nor from monks hidden behind a screen, but from a fellow tourist who sang as he moved through the building, exploring its rich acoustics. It was surprising and beautiful. How amazing it would have been to discover Casals playing Bach.
Bach Unwrapped is a year long series of over 70 concerts throughout 2013 at Kings Place, London.
Marcel Gatteaux just brought us this souvenir of his recent trip to France. It is presently displayed centre stage in The Rowley Gallery window. I’m hoping that as well as a fishmonger he’ll bring us a butcher, a baker and a candlestick-maker too. There is something about its simplicity and its proportions and the way it fits the frame that marks this as one of his best. See it here on our website and see what a difference a frame makes.