When not judging the Cannes Film Festival or chasing ballet dancers from the Monaco stage, bon viveur Jean Cocteau turned his artistic hand to painting on a grand scale. Many of his finest works were displayed in this oceanfront museum. Most of the 1,800 exhibit pieces were donated by Belgian-American collector Séverin Wunderman. These include canvases by Cocteau’s friends Picasso, Modigliani, and Miró, plus movies shot by the Frenchman at the Villa Santo Sospir on Cap-Ferrat. Architecture fans may note that the curvy, light-filled building that houses the Musée Jean Cocteau was designed by Rudy Ricciotti, who also styled the new MuCEM European and Mediterranean Museum in Marseille. A few blocks away, Cocteau’s life-size love scenes inside Menton’s Salle des Marriages (marriage office, pl. Ardoïno; adults 2€, free to children 17 and under; Mon–Fri 8:30am–noon and 2–4:30pm) earned him honorary citizenship of the town in 1958. Three years after Cocteau’s death in 1963, the Musée du Bastion (Tues–Sun 10am–6pm) opened on Menton’s seafront to showcase his final period of work. 

Important: Due to flooding the Cocteau Museum has been closed with no word of when it will reopen (as we go to press). Please check the website before going over.