Château de la Napoule/Musée Henry-Clews
An inscription over the entrance to this fairy tale-like château reads: ONCE UPON A TIME. The château, a brooding, medieval-looking fortress whose foundations begin at the edge of the sea, was rebuilt from the ruins of a real medieval château. Clews covered the capitals and lintels with his own grotesque menagerie -- scorpions, pelicans, gnomes, monkeys, lizards -- the revelations of a tortured mind. Women and feminism are recurring themes in the sculptor's work; an example is the distorted suffragette depicted in his Cat Woman. The artist was preoccupied with old age in men and women alike, and admired chivalry and dignity in the man represented by Don Quixote -- to whom he likened himself. Clews died in Switzerland in 1937, and his body was returned to La Napoule for burial. Marie Clews later opened the château to the public as a testimonial to the inspiration of her husband. Visitors can enjoy the Salon de Thé (tea room) with its rampart views over the Bay of Cannes from April to September (11am-5pm). The museum also organizes kids' workshops and artists-in-residence programs.
An inscription over the entrance to this fairy tale-like château reads: ONCE UPON A TIME. The château, a brooding, medieval-looking fortress whose foundations begin at the edge of the sea, was rebuilt from the ruins of a real medieval château. Clews covered the capitals and lintels with his own grotesque menagerie -- scorpions, pelicans, gnomes, monkeys, lizards -- the revelations of a tortured mind. Women and feminism are recurring themes in the sculptor's work; an example is the distorted suffragette depicted in his Cat Woman. The artist was preoccupied with old age in men and women alike, and admired chivalry and dignity in the man represented by Don Quixote -- to whom he likened himself. Clews died in Switzerland in 1937, and his body was returned to La Napoule for burial. Marie Clews later opened the château to the public as a testimonial to the inspiration of her husband. Visitors can enjoy the Salon de Thé (tea room) with its rampart views over the Bay of Cannes from April to September (11am-5pm). The museum also organizes kids' workshops and artists-in-residence programs.
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