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:House of the Blackheads (Melngalvju nams) is a building situated in the old town of Riga. The original building was erected during the first third of the 14th century for the Brotherhood of Blackheads, a guild for unmarried German merchants in Riga. Major works were done in the years 1580 and 1886, adding most of the ornaments.
The structure was bombed to a ruin by the Germans June 28, 1941 and the remains demolished by the Soviets in 1948. The current reconstruction was erected from 1995 to 1999. Today the House of Blackheads serves as a museum and sometimes concert hall.