The Renoir museum is placed in the heart of a beautiful estate in Cagnes-sur-Mer, planted with olive and citrus trees offering a breathtaking view down the Cape of Antibes. It was the retreat and final address of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who moved to Cagnes in an attempt to improve his arthritis. The museum's collection ; painting, scultpures, artist's studio and furniture constitute the testimony of Renoir's last 12 years of life spent in Cagnes-sur-Mer.
In 1908, Renoir settled in the Collettes. Seduced by the climate, he enjoyed painting outside, reproducing on his canvas the bright colours of the olive trees, fruits and flowers of the region as well as the voluptuous bodies of the young Cagnoises that lived here. Also, it is in Cagnes that he started sculpting for the first time. The happiness that comes out of Renoir paintings is due to the exaltation and felicity that the painter kept until his last day despite the weakness that overcame his body, when he became very ill.The Renoir Museum reproduces the exact environment that the painter knew, displaying some of his canvas, furniture, and familiar objects.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.