Royal Academy Riviera exhibition favours geography over sensuality and modernism
A Royal Academy exhibition on artists’ depictions of the French Riviera is criticised for treating the coast’s geography as more important than the sensual, idealised world it inspired. The reviewer argues that this approach gives neo-impressionists such as Paul Signac disproportionate space while marginalising Henri Matisse and the Fauves, whose work was more radical.
The review highlights Matisse’s 1904 *Study for Luxe, calme et volupté* as the show’s clearest expression of the Riviera as both a real place and an imagined seaside paradise. It also says the exhibition underplays the eroticism in Matisse and Pablo Picasso, offering only a narrow selection of their work; Picasso is represented by a copy of a backdrop based on his 1922 painting and a 1961 vase.
- The exhibition prioritises geography over the Riviera’s artistic appeal.
- Matisse and the Fauves receive too little space.
- The reviewer says Picasso’s erotic Riviera is largely missing.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Painting the French Riviera review – about as erotic and glamorous as a wet day in Margate”.