Elle est belle ma Friche.
Pick a slightly overcast Sunday and head for the bright colours of the Friche la Belle de Mai, behind the Gare Saint-Charles train station. On this site of the former tobacco factory belonging to SEITA, a 12-hectare area is dedicated to the arts and ballads. Take the time to wander around the old buildings, sheds and landings, which are now living spaces housing 70 permanent residents from the local neighbourhood and artistic community (music, theatre, visual arts) – there’s a real buzz about the place. The Playground attracts all the district’s young people, while Place des Quais is the ideal spot for family picnics, and the rooftop terrace plays host to all the summer parties and concerts. On the day we visited, the ‘Tour’ section featured an exhibition entitled Sickscreen Land, a silkscreen panorama bringing together four workshops from Belgrade, Porto, Vielsam and Marseille (‘Le dernier cri’ permanent silkscreen workshop is situated inside the Friche).
Posters, installations and trash featured heavily, with saturated colours, political slogans, monstrous figures and bloody nightmares – all these images from manual printing. And of course we needed to sample the restaurant to make sure we had the full experience. This one’s called ‘Les Grandes Tables’, a huge space with glass walls, where the serving staff are young and friendly. Fatima cooked us chicken couscous with dried apricots, raisins, almonds, chickpeas and onion, which was fragrant and of a tenderness that’s hard to come by. Happily, the menu changes according to the seasons and what’s in stock. Once you’ve had enough to eat, you can go back down to the bookshop or drink one last coffee at ‘La salle des machines’. You’re just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Palais Longchamp (i.e. on foot, by bike or by bus).
_La Friche la Belle de mai: 12, rue François Simon, 3rd arrondissement / lafriche.org
Where are all the masterpieces? The Musée des Beaux-Arts
The Musée des Beaux-Arts is located in the left wing of the Palais Longchamp. After having admired the fountain and climbed the grand staircase past the standard wedding photography, you reach a recently reconfigured collection. As the gallery doesn’t have a single stand-out masterpiece, the route lets you reflect instead on the influence of the great masters and on the trends in painting throughout Europe. For example, La Vierge et l’Enfant Jésus (The Virgin and Child) by Simon Vouet, painted in 1638. That’s the title, but the painting simply depicts a mother and her child, nothing more. No halo, no ‘divine’ light, no ecstatic position: just a pretty young woman and her child, both with pearly skin. She is showing him a rose that he is fascinated by, it’s a simple act of transferring knowledge. A blue stole that could represent Marian uniting mother and child, the birth of each child becoming equal to the birth of Jesus.
There is also Samson and Dalila by Louis Finson (1580-1617). This is an extremely violent work, as we can see from the figure of Samson, his grimace, the armed men and the predominant shades of brown and red. Dalila is in the centre, holding Samson’s arms and ignoring his pleas; her face is pale and her hairstyle elaborate; her forehead features a jewel with a feather. She holds her head proudly and her determined yet perfectly serene expression is significant. This work hangs next to a copy of Louis Finson’s painting Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, based on the Caravaggio piece where Magdalene indulges in a languid and sensual moment of Christ-like ecstasy. Both of these works show a man’s perspective on two unsettling women. You can also discover paintings inspired by Félix Ziem (1821-1911) and four portraits by Françoise Duparc (1726-1778), who painted people in the street with a great deal of humanity: fabric merchant, old lady, man with a beggar’s bag, young woman working. It’s looking at people through a softer lens, as can be said for film-maker Alain Cavalier with his focus on women in his series 24 Portraits.
© Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille
Where are all the masterpieces? To say there are no masterpieces would be overlooking Honoré Daumier (1808-1879). He had a dry wit, as well as hands of genius to sketch the era he lived in. You can admire a selection of his Célébrités du Juste Milieu, with their unthinkable cruelty towards the political world, and also make fun of the face of Ratapoil, with all its sycophancy and malice. To say there are no masterpieces would also be overlooking Rubens’ Portrait of a Woman, painted in 1630. It depicts the sweet face of a young woman, her head tilted towards the middle of her ethereal collar – an image that can’t fail to awaken something inside you.
_Musée des Beaux-Arts de Marseille: 9, rue Edouard Stephan, 4th arrondissement
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ADDRESS BOOK
Vieux-Port is a magnet, both day and night – you’ll go once and want to keep going back. Here’s a few different places to give you a wide-ranging experience...
> Le Café du Théâtre or the Barjac (Place de Lenche)
> Terrace at Fort Saint-Jean or the Esplanade Saint-Sauveur (Panier district)
> Bar Le Dantes (Hôtel Sofitel Marseille Vieux Port)
> Terrace at the Abbaye Saint Victor (Place Saint Victor)
> On board the ferry boat (between the city hall and the Quai Rive-Neuve)
A few opportunities for both a food fight and a good old explore around Marseille...
Pompe à l’huile:
Butter in my bread?! Have you seen any butter in the kitchens around here? No? Exactly. It’s just bread with olive oil. Now it’s up to you to suss it out and give it a go.
> Pâtisserie Plauchut (168 La Canebière, 1st arrondissement)
Gibassier:
Gah, no one agrees – is it pastry dough or shortcrust pastry? Everyone’s on the same page when it comes to the candied orange and/or aniseed filling, the quantities of which vary depending on the pastry chef. But when it comes to the type of pastry, opinions are divided.
> L’atelier des Saveurs (1 rue de la Grande Armée, 1st arrondissement)
Gâteau des rois:
Orange flower brioche in a crown, decorated with candied fruits. Absolute heaven.
> Pâtisserie Saint Victor (2 avenue de Corse, 7th arrondissement)
> Le Pain de l’Opéra (61 rue Francis Davso, 1st arrondissement)
Navettes
Orange flower hopped aboard this dry cake shaped like a boat. So that you’re sorted whichever side of the Vieux-Port quarter you’re on, here’s two addresses where you can dip your cookie – phew.
> Four des Navettes (136 rue Sainte, 7th arrondissement)
> Les navettes des Accoules (68, rue Caisserie, 2nd arrondissement)
