Painting
Languedoc artists have evolved with the times. During the classical period, on the border between the 17th and 18th centuries, few painters left their mark. The Perpignanese Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743), who would become the official painter of all that France has of notabilities and power, remains one of the few exceptions. A few painters born in the region, such as the Montpellier painter Bourdon (1616-1671), would acquire a certain notoriety. They made careers in Paris or abroad, such as Jean Ranc (1674-1735) who became official painter to the court of King Philip V of Spain. It wasn't until the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century that Languedoc-Roussillon became famous in terms of painting.Quite quickly, the city of Montpellier became a favourite destination for artists. Their talent was encouraged by the presence of two patron collectors, François-Xavier Fabre (1766-1837) and Alfred Bruyas (1821-1877). The first, a pupil of David, a painter and teacher, offered his personal collection to the city in 1828, a bequest that gave rise to one of the richest regional museums in the country, the Fabre Museum. Later, in 1854 and 1857, at the invitation of Alfred Bruyas, Gustave Courbet stayed in Montpellier. Among the natives of Montpellier was Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870), the local representative of the Impressionist movement. Fascinated by nature, finding his roots in the family estate of Méric, on the heights of Montpellier, he left for Paris where he became friends with Renoir, Manet and Monet.
But the real explosion was to occur in Roussillon at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1905, a young painter named Matisse (1869-1954) went to Collioureon the advice of his friend Signac. The following year, other prestigious names joined him on the shores of the Mediterranean, including Derain, Dufy, Juan Gris and Marquet, who were to be at the origin of one of the most important pictorial movements of the century passé : Fauvism. Almost at the same time, Céret became " La Mecca of cubisme ", welcoming artists such as Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Georges Braque (1882-1963), and Salvador Dali offered the Perpignan railway station the title of "Centre of the World" in 1965.
The end of the 20th century saw the emergence in the Hérault of what has been called "the school of Sète ". Without creating a real current or a reputable school, the case of the city is quite interesting, and the qualifier of Paul Valéry " l'île singulière " also takes all its reason in the artistic field. Nothing in common with Albert Marquet, François Desnoyer, Soulages, or the current proponents of " figuration libre ", Combas or the Di Rosa brothers... than the love of this city and the creative atmosphere that emanates from it.
Street-art
In Languedoc-Roussillon, art takes many forms, one of the most recent being street art. Exhibited in contemporary galleries or displayed in their wildest form on city walls, these works are increasingly integrated into the art world, recognized as an art form in its own right and no longer just as an act of vandalism.
Some cities in the territory even choose to celebrate these street artists during cultural events. The most important one is K-Live in Sète. Launched in 2008, this multidisciplinary festival focused on current music and urban art invites major artists of the street-art movement to express themselves in the streets. Among them: C215, Alëxone, Atlas, Poch, M.Chat, Epsylon Point, Jan Kalab, Clet, Bault, Stew, Chanoir, Jonnystyle, Pablito Zago, Claire Streetart, Julien Seth Malland, Kashink, Monsieur Qui, Goddog, Pedro & Kazy... Their works, supported by the walls of the city, make up the MACO (or "Open Skies Museum"), it is enriched every year. The wanderings in the heart of the "Ile Singulière" allow you to discover this amazing city-gallery.
A few kilometers away, Montpellier also plays its role of nursery of street-artists. In the city's neighborhoods, all styles can be found, from trompe-l'oeil to graffiti, including collage. If you venture to the banks of the Verdanson, a small stream that runs through the city, you can admire hundreds of works of varying sizes. Several generations of artists have made their mark on this space. Far from wanting to remove these works, the city encourages their highlighting via thematic guided tours and commissions (Mist in Rondelet, fresco in Polygone...).
In Béziers, the street artists are given the mission to tell the story of the city. Indeed, a circuit of 16 colorful frescoes, paintings of the history of the city, allows to discover elements of its past. Among them, the beautiful fresco "Compostela" recalls that the town is on the path of the foothills leading to Spain and that it is an alternative to the mountains. Another pays tribute to the infantrymen who refused to shoot the demonstrators in Béziers during the winegrowers' revolts of the 20th century. On a lighter note, there is also a fresco in honor of the ASB-H, the Béziers rugby club.
The 7th art
With grandiose natural settings, a rich historical heritage and exceptional light, the region has long been used as a filming location, and the list of films is long and growing.Among the films shot wholly or partly in the region, some have had a strong impact on the minds and history of cinema, we cannot forget Le Salaire de la peur (1952 in Anduze,Arles...), or Le Corniaud (1965 in Carcassonne). In François Truffaut's cult film L'Homme qui aimait les femmes (1976), a vibrant tribute is paid to Montpellier and "the most beautiful women in France". To say the least, 37°2 in the morning (1986, Gruissan and Marvejols) or Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (1989 in Carcassonne) and Les Visiteurs (1993 in Carcassonne too) were real blockbusters.
In 1999, Roman Polanski was seduced by the mysterious profile of Puivert Castle and the impressive Galamus Gorge for the filming of The Ninth Gate. In the Gard, some scenes from the film Indigènes (2006) were shot in Beaucaire and Claude Chabrol chose to shoot his latest feature Bellamy (2008) largely in Nîmes, a city he was particularly fond of. In 2013,Béziers and the Thau Lagoon were the setting for Mélanie Laurent's film Breathe. As for Nicole Garcia, she has set her sights on the region between Montpellier, Palavas-les-Flots and Nîmes for her film Un long dimanche (2014). Moreover, the region is becoming a favourite location for TV series and films such as the series Candice Renoir (Sète, Montpellier, Bouzigues, Nîmes) and Un si grand soleil (Montpellier).
Photogenic to perfection, the territory has been, is, and will be in the viewfinder of movie cameras. Film festivals are well represented: the International Mediterranean Film Festival in Montpellier, Rencontres cinémaginaires in Argelès, etc.
Since September 2020, an ambitious project for a park dedicated to cinema has been under discussion on the Bayssan estate in Béziers. Its objective would be to make the area the new "European Hollywood", attracting film crews from all over the world. Although the creation of the complex is still under discussion, its features are already known: 19 ha of outdoor sets, workshops, offices and technical services, 20 ha of roads and parking, 5 ha of accommodation and catering facilities. An area of 20 ha will also be open to the public, it will be a kind of theme park focused on cinema. The sponsors of the project hope to attract nearly 2 million visitors per year to the area.
Sculpture
One could not leave Roussillon without mentioning the name of Aristide Maillol, one of the most famous sculptors of his time. Born in Banyuls on 8 April 1861, he turned to painting after discovering the work of Gauguin. His travels in Greece and Italy and his admiration for ancient statuary developed his taste for sculpture. A graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied from 1885 to 1893, his masters were the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and the illustrious painter Alexandre Cabanel. He was the renovator of classical sculpture, daring everything, moving away from Rodin the expressionist, magnifying with modesty in his work, his theme of prédilection : the female body. His works, pure, represent women, mostly naked, with sensual bodies and pulpy curves, representing emotions, seasons, or even elements. He had his first solo exhibition as early as 1902 and began exhibiting regularly in 1904. In 1913, he was in New York where he took part in the Armory Show, a major exhibition that brought together 1,250 works by more than 300 European and American artists, sculptors and painters. His style, at first dreamlike, later came close to classicism, and his work was a model until the end of the Second World War. He had two workshops in Banyuls, one in his family home, the other in the countryside, a few kilometres from the village, in his " métairie " in the middle of the vineyards. He died there in 1944. About twenty of his sculptures depicting generous women are exhibited at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. His smallholding is now a museum that pays homage to him.More unusual is the work of the Agathoise Simone Jouglas (1907-2001). Trained as a ceramist, she was one of the most famous santonnières in Provence. Her career was hailed by the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite artisanal in 1952, the diploma of Meilleur ouvrier de France in 1961 and the Gold Medal of French National Merit in 1966. That's all there is to it!
