Saturday, November 07, 2009

Cathedrale d'Images

Whilst motoring around Provence Uli & I visited the impressive Cathedrale d'Images close to Les Baux. The old limestone quarries are these days used as a unique location for special projected 'art shows'. This year's spectacle is based on Picasso's work. It was quite thrilling to see the paintings blown up & projected at such a huge scale. The images were cleverly matched to the facets of the rock face so the cubist work took on a further dimension.

Classical music plays while the images whirl around & dissolve on & off the stone. The Guernica section is nightmarish as elements of the painting:-hands, tormented faces, the horse in agony- surround one 'in' the painting as it all builds to a cacophonous climax.



It's a fascinating location and was used by Cocteau to shoot 'Le Testament d'Orphee' in which Picasso took part.

3 comments:

Emmanuel Briand said...

yeaahhhhh you're lucky

Elliot said...

Hi Matt

Apologies if you knew this already (I didn't) but the Notre Dame de France church in London (just off Leicester Square, next to the Prince Charles cinema) has a mural painted by Cocteau.

http://www.crusader.org.uk/nddf/index.html

Well worth a look if you're ever in the Smoke. And worth it for this tapestry, too...

http://www.notredamechurch.co.uk/eng/images/tapestry.jpg

E

Matt Jones said...

Ah yes- a friend told me about that years ago but I never saw it. Next time I'm in London I'll go. In the south of France I found a secluded chapel that Cocteau decorated at Frejus:
http://www.linternaute.com/sortir/escap/sudest/frejus/diaporama/4.shtml