The Grand Tour II: Alice Neel in van Gogh’s place

ARLES, France — Alice Neel is a great American painter. What’s that you say? You are unfamiliar with her work? You are probably not alone. As good as she is, Neel doesn’t have the profile of Georgia O’Keeffe when it comes to name recognition (maybe that has something to do with O’Keefe’s affiliation with Alfred Stieglitz …

The Grand Tour II: A day trip to Arles

ARLES, France — I had read somewhere that there was a reproduction of Vincent van Gogh’s iconic bedroom in Arles, the town where he spent his most productive years. As it turns out, it doesn’t pay to have just read something somewhere and expect it to be so. The room had been a temporary exhibit and …

The Grand Tour II: Hilltop Mystic Art

CORDES-SUR-CIEL, France — In the medieval southern French village, which sits in the clouds above the valley, is a temple — of sorts — dedicated to the mystic Ma Ananda Moyi. Cordes-sur-Ciel is a quaint tourist town and it is odd to discover this strange creation. If one doesn't know it is there, the house …

The Grand Tour II: Medieval in a Modern World

CORDES-SUR-CIEL, France — High in the hills of the Midi-Pyrenees floats a medieval town that time has seemingly forgotten. Cordes-sur-Ciel (sur-ciel means in the heavens or sky, named for the clouds and mist that rise from the valley giving the town a magical quality. Until 1993, the town was simply Cordes, a word thought to come …

The Grand Tour II: A Mountain Village and Cathars

SAUVETERRE DE ROUERGUE, France — Located in the Aveyron department of southern France, between the towns of Albi and Rodez in the Midi-Pyrenees, this small 13th-century village with a population of little more than 800 is an unlikely tourist spot, but in the past few years the village has sought to halt its decline by …

The Grand Tour II: Toulouse-Latrec Museum shines

This is a story I wrote for ISSUE magazine about the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi, France. The museum is housed in a medieval castle and is as good a single artist museum as I have visited — it is beautifully laid out and there is a wealth of information available in four languages, which is …