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 Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.
Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.