Painting and drawing
The Vaucluse has inspired landscape artists for centuries: Camille Corot, Paul Signac, Nicolas de Staël, Joseph and Horace Vernet, Paul Guigou and, more recently, Paul Surtel, who made the Ventoux his favorite theme. Pierre and Antoine Grivolas, born in Avignon, also painted the Ventoux. Some of them, having set up their easels in the Vaucluse, settled there for good. Such is the case of Pascal Ambrogiani in Vaison-la-Romaine and Jane Eakin, whose house in Ménerbes is open to the public. Today, galleries and workshops are open in even the smallest villages. Just for the pleasure of a stroll, don't hesitate to push open their doors, as they have some wonderful surprises in store. Sybille Friedel, from Pernes, paints and draws her specialty: Chinese calligraphy. Black strokes and more black strokes on white paper. Whether splashing onto rice paper, dislocating with grays and whites, rising skyward in the form of famished wooden giants, or floating in the air in vertical clusters, ideograms run through Sybille's work like enigmatic words from the mouth of an oracle. Yet if this artist has one obsession, it's freedom. But a freedom acquired through hard work and reflection.
An American art and design school in Lacoste
Savannah College has set up one of its campuses in the heart of the beautiful village of Lacoste. The school participated in the renovation of the buildings in the upper part of the village, and it's a real success. It's not uncommon to come across students pencilling away on a windowsill. The Pfriem gallery is home to some of the world's leading contemporary artists.
Cinema
With its village squares, small cafés, farmhouses protected from the mistral by cypress hedges, courtyards planted with centuries-old plane trees, and the light we envy, the Vaucluse is a natural setting for the cinema.
The love affair between this region and the cinema probably began with Henri Copli's 1970 film, in which Fernandel crossed the Luberon. He is on foot with his horse in Heureux qui comme Ulysse. If you look closely, some places haven't changed. But there's one director who knows how to film the mistral: Daniel Auteuil in La Fille du puisatier... perhaps because he's a child of the region. Incidentally, scenes from Marcel Pagnol's Manon des Sources and Jean de Florette, directed by Claude Berri, were shot in Vaugines in the southern Luberon. The latest, Emmanuel Mouret's TV film Les Choses qu'on dit, les choses qu'on fait, was shot in Malaucène, Vaison, Carpentras and the Toulourenc gorges.
Photography
The Vaucluse region, particularly the Ventoux, has long inspired and intrigued photographers in their quest for instant moments and secrets. This is the world that enchants Nicolas Ughetto, a native of the region. He specializes in wildlife photography, which can be seen in his books or at the wildlife photography festival held in Sault during the summer months. His latest project is a film, Ventoux renaissance sauvage, featuring wolves. Didier Ricca, wildlife and nature photographer, has also made the Ventoux his playground, the fauna, the flora, his favorite spots, each photo with its own story. If you're an early riser, you may be lucky enough to come across these two enthusiasts on the slopes of the "pelé" mountain, and why not some of its wilder inhabitants?
Sculpture: to each his own!
In the Provencal style, we find the expression of the South of France: working with ochre, fine, variegated earthenware, enhanced with floral relief motifs; fired clay either to create the santons that decorate the Christmas crib and the Tarraiettes, miniature crockery pieces, or to create the floor tiles of Provencal mas.
Landry Clément, sculptor and art designer, works his sculptures on oak or chestnut wood like jewels: each one is adorned with 22-carat gold distemper gilding, adding nobility to his works. Roger Nifle also works with the "language" of wood, dead wood stumps, from which he awakens forms and reveals characters that begin to speak... of him, of us. Lady Bird's passion: modeling clay, working with color to offer a wide range of ceramic creations. She loves exploring the different effects of glazes, and some of her pieces are unique.
Street-art
Vast open-air surfaces are often the preferred terrain of the street artists who gave birth to the "street art" movement, formerly known as "graffiti".
Stencil artist Polo 51.67 leaves his mark on the urban panorama of Avignon with a spray can in hand, while Clément David, aka Klemz, a young artist from Vaison, has become the author of several frescoes, both permanent and ephemeral, in the region, including one depicting two symbols of the town of Vaison: the Emperor Hadrian and the ancient theater, which graces the 15 m-high, 20 m-long walls of a former flour mill silo that has been abandoned for many years. Alexis Catry, a native of northern France, chose to settle in the village of Beaumont du Ventoux, at the foot of the mountain. From an early age, his notebooks, books and school desks were covered with his sketches. An avid traveler, Avignon-based Pablito Zago has not forgotten to add his touch to his hometown. Pablo plays with scale, expressing himself either on 200m2 facades or on canvas for galleries. Through a naïve approach to drawing, he defends a certain urban poetry, leaving each of his works open to interpretation. Childhood, masks, color and eroticism are constants in his work, whatever the format. He describes his work as "illustration for neurotic big kids". All you have to do is wander the streets to try and unearth all these signatures!
