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La Colombe d’Or - Saint Paul de Vence
A Century of Art

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Photography: Verónica de Mello + Courtesy La Colombe d’Or

19 / 07 / 2022

Text: Verónica de Mello

When, in July last year, I fulfilled my long-cherished desire to spend a few days at the legendary La Colombe d'Or hotel in Saint Paul de Vence, on the Côte d'Azur, I understood the magical aura surrounding the history of this establishment.

From the moment the gate swings open and we are greeted by the approving thumbs-up sculpture by César Baldaccini to the headboard, where our dreams mingle with the images of the frescoes on the wall, everything in this enchanting place is rendered perfect as if it were somewhere close to heaven, devised for anyone passionate about art and aesthetics.
Throughout the corridors, halls, dining room and terrace, the collection surprises us with works by Miró, Matisse, Picasso, Bonnard, Braque, Chagall, Fernand Léger, Yves Montand, César, Arman, Calder, Delaunay, Kandinsky, Sean Scully, among many other artists. It was with this mixture of incredulousness and satisfaction that I went down to dinner.
On the terrace of La Colombe d'Or, we dined at the table next to the author of the well-known song Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? and the blonde with a magnetic gaze who, years earlier, played the role of the most famous woman in the world at crossing legs and using an ice pick. These big names from the cinema and music are the hotel's current clientele, but it's hardly surprising considering that over the 100 years of its existence, this terrace has witnessed the arrival of everyone from Brigitte Bardot to Jean-Paul Sartre, Orson Welles and Sophia Loren, to name but a few. Artists, film directors, intellectuals, royalty, collectors and art aficionados have shared stories and sampled local delicacies.

The collection at La Colombe d'Or hotel begins with the hotel itself, which first opened its doors in 1920 as a simple inn and, over the years, expanded from three to its current 30 rooms. "Paul Roux, its founder, was fascinated by art; artists became his great friends," Daniele Roux, third generation of the family, tells me. "Matisse used to visit the patriarch. The two would snack in the artist's limousine parked in front of the gate." During the Second World War, La Colombe d'Or became a safe haven for many artists who would exchange their works, drawings or sketches for their sojourn or for savouring its celebrated Provençal cuisine. In 1953, when Paul Roux was ill, his wife Baptistine ("Titine") went to Pablo Picasso's studio and told him, “your good friend is dying and we don't have a single work of yours." She was to return with three paintings by the artist, one of which hangs in the hotel today.

Read the full story on Attitude 106 issue.