There were just a few paintings still to hang when I left Lourmarin in late September. Before departing—and two days before the opening–I popped by to see Jacqueline Bricard, proprietor of the naïf art gallery bearing her name and curator of the “Regard Naïf Européen” exhibition. She was in the midst of the usual frenzy entailed in the preparations for a large exhibition.  This exhibition includes the works of twenty-eight painters and three sculptors, representing 13 European countries. In total, about 60 paintings and a couple dozen sculptures comprise the show.  The majority of pieces are in the gallery and a dozen or so paintings…

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It’s Academy Award season, and as it was with me a year ago when I wrote of Marcel Pagnol, I am drawn back to Provence, in fact to his hometown of Aubagne. On this occasion it began last fall when I was discussing with my wife Benedicte, who is French, about the genre films that Hollywood is known for which might appeal to her. In the past couple of years she has become a fan of American westerns, so I thought Foreign Legion fare could be of interest. What I quickly ran up against though was that while the western has survived successfully since the…

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If you follow what’s happening in Lourmarin, the charming village at the southern base of the Luberon where the Manfull family has been hanging their hats for many years, you’ve no doubt seen something about “Lourmarin, Lourmarin.”  Have you wondered what “Lourmarin, Lourmarin” is?  Earlier this year, it started popping up on FaceBook and Instagram and I, for one, wondered what it was. It is the new name for the Association des Commerçants et Artisans, explained Richard Dufay, current president of the association and proprietor of Faces, an avant garde boutique for women that he opened about three years ago in Lourmarin.  I spoke with…

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If you are in Provence and looking for something different to do—in between touring Roman ruins and visiting hilltop villages—I’ve got the answer:  Kick off your shoes, climb into a huge oak barrel filled with grapes, and start stomping.  That’s what Provence WineZine photographer Pamela O’Neill and I did earlier this month when we visited Les Pastras, an organic farm, located in the southern part of the Luberon, most known for their truffles.  We had a ball, not to mention felt a little like Lucille Ball in her iconic I Love Lucy episode about her adventure stomping grapes. I’ve written about Les Pastras in previous…

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When the weather gets hot, our mortar and pestle becomes a fixture on the kitchen table. The familiar rhythmic sound of pestle-striking-mortar fills the air and the pungent aroma of garlic wafts through the house. Aïoli. It’s aïoli time. The word, aïoli, comes from the French word for garlic–ail–and the Occitan word for oil—òli—the two primary ingredients in this deliciously simple Provençal dish. So ubiquitous is this sauce on tables in Provence that it is also known as “the butter of Provence.” Aïoli is often a key ingredient in an array of appetizers or it can be found alongside a pork roast or fish, or…

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The Carrières de Lumières defy description.  One could say (aptly) that it is a multi-media extravaganza—about 100 projectors casting 3,000 images on walls as high as 14 meters, spilling onto the ceiling and the floor, and choreographed perfectly with music ringing out from about 25 speakers strategically placed within the 5,000 square meters of a former limestone quarry certainly qualifies as fantastic spectacle. However, until you step through the door into the cavernous quarries where limestone was quarried from Gallo-Roman times to the early 20th century, you just won’t understand.  Until your eyes adjust and you stroll around, sit, dance, or stand and marvel, you just…

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Those of you who travel to Provence or fancy a trip sometime soon–or who are lucky enough to live here–no doubt are acquainted with the Provence Guru. The Guru–aka, Jamie Ivey–and wife Tanya traded their London lives for adventures in Provence that spawned four books, a glossy magazine about Provence, a market stall where they sold rosé, a pop-up rosé bar, and a blog. I caught up with Ivey at Café Gaby in Lourmarin last week to find out what was keeping him busy these days. And, I got some scoop…read on! Ivey–former London Commercial Attorney and current writer, blogger, husband and fully-engaged father of…

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Cannes is the quintessential French Riviera resort, renowned for its glamour and bling year-round.  Come May and the internationally acclaimed Cannes Film Festival, the Promenade de la Croisette that wraps around the waterfront, passing the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès where the festival is held, will swell with even more rich and famous folks who have flocked to Cannes to rub shoulders with celebrities and, oh yes, see a few film premieres. It’s hard to imagine Cannes as an unassuming fishing village, but it was… until after World War II and the inception of the Film Festival.  It would have happened without the movies,…

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The Academy Awards, which I look forward to each year, will be telecast Sunday evening, February 28, and this presents me with a confliction, for February 28 is also the birth date of legendary French filmmaker Marcel Pagnol. Seven years ago, on his anniversary, we had a party in his honor at our home with a group of French friends, all admirers of his work. (Could there be a Frenchman who is not?) Since then, each year on this date, we watch one of his films following dinner. Usually we select Manon des Sources (1986) though last year because Daniel Auteuil took it upon himself…

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2016 whooshed in like the infamous Mistral wind tears through the Rhône Valley.  So fast, I’ve barely had time to take stock of the wonders of 2015.  The Modern Trobadors covered a lot of ground in 2015, accompanied by, for the first time, a tour group–affectionately named after this blog–of eight engaging and adventurous people. It was exciting to share our love for this area of France with them, as we strive to do for all our readers with each post.  The photos below capture a wee bit of the spirit of this part of Provence.  If you want to experience first-hand what you see…

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