Great art centers usually mean great cities. The centres of cultural and political power change over centuries and some are left outside the modern urban environment. One has only to think of the Aztec and Inca civilizations as an example. As far as France is concerned there is much to see outside of Paris, Versailles or Chartres. Some of the best is found in the most isolated places. The southwestern quarter of the country has such a wealth of cultural sites of world standing that makes it a very special "center".
Prehistory
There are some art treasures that can only exist in the countryside. Paleolithic cave art, often buried in the depths of the earth where humans cannot live, is to be found in rural settings. Here are images that touch us still across a vast cultural divide; created by a nomadic people who followed the migrating routes of the animals they hunted. Here are images that are not framed and fixed on a wall of a museum. These works remain in their original context, unlike the museum pieces, and cannot be separated from their subterranean origins. They are not meant to be perceived as "art" but as something broader, more profound. Sadly for us their significance has been lost.
There are examples all over the planet. What is interesting, however, is that southwest France has 20 percent of Europe's Paleolithic cave art. Lascaux is the most famous, but there are also other sites of equal importance, like Pech Merle. Our ancestors not only painted; they drew, engraved and sculpted too. There is an exquisite series of horses, bison and reindeer carved in low relief at Cap Blanc, the only prehistoric sculpted frieze on public view in the world. Cap Blanc is but a short journey by car from the little village of Les Eyzies in the Dordogne, from where you can also visit many other prehistoric sites close by. Such is the importance of Les Eyzies that France's National Museum of Prehistory was built here and not in Paris.
If you have a couple of days to explore you can go further south towards the Pyrenean Mountains to see the caves at Gargas, Mas d'Azil and Niaux. Gargas is a cave remarkable for the quantity of negative handprints, estimated to be some 26,000 years old. Mas d'Azil is a spectacular cave and has been studied by prehistorians since the 19th century. Amongst the paintings and engravings of bison, horses and deer are to be found images of saltwater fish. Niaux is a vast underground network of galleries. Some of these are now closed to the public for conservation reasons or because they are too difficult to reach. Of the hundreds of animal drawings and signs the majority are to be found in the first sections of the network, which can be visited. The drawings have been dated and found to belong to two periods, one thousand years apart: around 13,000 years ago and 14,000 years ago.
A later prehistoric culture left dolmens and megaliths. Again the southwest has a concentration that is outstanding. There are not just standing stones in this region but mysterious representations of men and women, carved into large stones, to be set in the ground, in the landscape. They are called "statue-menhir". One remarkable collection can be found in Rodez, in the Aveyron. These "statues-menhir" were made about 5,000 years ago and are the oldest examples in France. A visit to the Fenaille Museum in Rodez, that houses the collection, is well worth the effort.
The presence of so many images over so many millennia suggests that the region has been a land of plenty and a land of powerful spirits. The quality and quantity of the prehistoric sites alone is sufficient to make southwest France a great art center. Yet the region's cultural wealth does not stop at prehistory.
Romanesque
The southwest flourished under the Roman occupation and, later on, when Christianity was firmly established. Kings, counts and lords bequeathed money and artworks to monasteries and churches, particularly to those religious communities on the pilgrim roads to Santiago de Compostella (the various pilgrim routes converge in the region before crossing to Spain). There are two "chefs-d'oeuvre" of the Romanesque period in the area: Moissac and Conques.
The monastery of Moissac has its origins in the 7th century AD and was rebuilt in the 11th century, when it became affiliated with Cluny. The cloisters and the south entrance of the abbey-church with its tympanum illustrating St. John's vision of the Apocalypse, accompanied by the gracious, elongated figures of the prophet Isaiah and St. Peter attract visitors from all over the world.
What was once a hermit's retreat in the hills has become a monastery and pilgrimage site that is on the UNESCO world heritage list. The tympanum of the abbey-church of Saint Foy in Conques portrays the Last Judgement on a scale that is breathtaking. The state of preservation of the 124 sculpted figures is equally striking. On the one side is heaven, a scene of peace and order. On the other side is hell, a turmoil of violence and chaos. The damned are being punished in ways that are related to their sins. Thus the liar is having his tongue pulled out. The glutton is being thrown into a big cooking pot. The miser is being hung by the weighty bag of money he has hoarded. The hellish scenes of torture and perversion makes one think of the paintings of the Dutch artist, Hieronymus Bosch, who was working in the second half of the 15th century and into the 16th century. He is an unusual painter in that he straddles both medieval and renaissance traditions.
Modernism
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec comes from the southwest of France. He was a direct descendant of the counts of Toulouse and was born in the town of Albi in 1864. There are many other great artists connected to this quarter of France, such as Goya and Ingres. What is special about this aristocratic artist is that his mother bequeathed her collection of his work to the town of Albi. It is the largest public collection of his work in the world. The Toulouse-Lautrec museum in Albi is therefore much more than a provincial museum. It is also a delight to see studies hung next to finished works, whether that be a painting, a lithograph or a printed poster, so the development of the piece can be observed. The prints and graphic design work predominate, but there are a few of his famous paintings, such as " A la Toilette" or "Au Salon de la Rue des Moulins".
The atmosphere of the Parisian scenes of cafés, brothels and cabarets portrayed by Toulouse-Lautrec is so vivid that one wishes the museum would play some 19th century popular music to accompany the visitor round the galleries. This is rather an irreverent wish since the museum is in a former bishop's palace, right next to the imposing cathedral of St. Cecile!
I hope readers will be encouraged to see how a tour round the countryside reveals much more than beautiful scenery. For those with an adventurous spirit you can be rewarded by both natural and cultural riches - at least if you are in France, and preferably in the southwest!
