Jean Cocteau’s Chapel
I was just in the South of France with bunch of illustrators. The first thing we did together was to form a caravan of cars and drive to the small seaside town Villefrance Sur Mer to see Jean Cocteau’s Chapel of St. Pierre. Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was a French renaissance man. He was a respected and famous writer, poet, filmmaker and visual artist, as well as being famous for simply being stylish. He spent two years decorating inside and outside of this beautiful little chapel between 1956 and 1957. It’s not the biggest tourist attraction of the French Riviera, but if you’re into art and design, you really should see it.

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gregory said | 29 March, 2009
My family is from Villefranche. When my mother was a teenager in the 50’s she and her friends used to go down to watch Cocteau painting. Villefranche was still primarily a fishing village then. The Riviera was becoming what it is, but then and even into my own childhood in the 70’s the little port was still full of active fisherman, bringing in their catch only meters away from this little temple of the sea.