Museums, galleries and heritage in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur

Few regions in France have attracted as many painters as Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Paul Cézanne worked in Aix-en-Provence until his death in 1906, and his final studio, the Atelier des Lauves, still holds his easel, still-life props and personal belongings exactly as he left them.

In Arles, Vincent van Gogh painted some of his most celebrated canvases during his stay in 1888-1889. The Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles examines his work and legacy through exhibitions that pair his paintings with contemporary art. The same city hosts LEE UFAN ARLES, devoted to the Korean minimalist artist, and the Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, focused on documentary photography.

Avignon, seat of the papacy in the 14th century, concentrates a remarkable density of collections: the Collection Lambert for contemporary art, the Musée Angladon built on the collection of couturier Jacques Doucet, the Musée Louis Vouland for 17th- and 18th-century decorative arts, and the Musée Lapidaire, housed since 1933 in a former Jesuit chapel built between 1620 and 1655.

Nice combines a strong photographic tradition with natural sciences and industrial heritage. The Musée de la Photographie Charles Nègre is built around the archive of Charles Nègre, a pioneering 19th-century photographer, while the Muséum d'Histoire naturelle de Nice occupies a historic building on Boulevard Risso. Nearby, the Espace culturel départemental Lympia has converted the former galley warehouses of Nice's port into an exhibition venue.

Inland, Digne-les-Bains preserves the memory of explorer and Tibetologist Alexandra David-Néel at the Maison Alexandra David-Néel, while the village of Salignac, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, is home to the Paleogalerie, an associative museum founded in 2014 around the paleontological collections of the Vocontian basin.

On the Var coast, the Musée du Niel sits directly on the water at the Port du Niel, on the Giens peninsula in Hyères, presenting temporary exhibitions of contemporary and modern art. Further inland, Draguignan hosts the Hôtel départemental des expositions du Var (HDE Var).

In Aix-en-Provence, Granet XXe occupies the former chapelle des Pénitents blancs and presents modern and contemporary collections alongside temporary exhibitions, complementing the city's Cézanne heritage.

Saint-Paul-de-Vence, long associated with 20th-century modern art, is now also home to the FONDATION CAB St-Paul-de-Vence, dedicated to minimal and conceptual art, which operates alongside a sister venue in Brussels. Nearby, the town of Vence has its own museum, the Musée de Vence.

Marseille contributes to the region's contemporary scene through the Centre de Conservation et de Ressources du Mucem, which holds and studies the collections of the Mucem, the national museum devoted to Mediterranean civilizations. Near Aix-en-Provence, the village of Châteauneuf-le-Rouge houses the Musée Arteum.