Vallauris "city of 100 potters" & Picasso

Vallauris is considered the unrivaled French capital of pottery and it's just over an hour from Nice. In late August, I took a day trip to check it out!

When I arrived I found Vallauris to be a quiet unassuming artsy village. I headed to the Ceramics Museum to learn the history of the place. The museum was housed in a small 16th-century building with a small Renaissance staircase. It's an historic monument in and of itself and added to the experience. The pottery of Vallauris is culinary ceramics. Pottery began being made here due to the type of clay deposits nearby during the time of the Roman occupation. Quite a long time ago.

I found this especially interesting... After WWII Picasso came to live in Vallauris. Picasso was very interested in the techniques of ceramics and contributed to a renaissance of the pottery industry in the 1950s. Of course the presence of Picasso drew other artists to the village; Matisse, Miró, Cocteau, and Chagall. I saw a short movie showing Picasso at work in a Vallauris pottery workshop which was cool. It was interesting to see Picasso whipping around his paint brush in a carefree joyful manner when decorating his pieces with glaze.

During his time in the town, Picasso created a great many sculptures and paintings including his mural War and Peace, which you can still see inside a chapel. It is one of the major artworks of the period.

Today Vallauris has ceramic school with a ceramic and fine art training programme "covering all the expertise that underpins Vallauris’ artistic reputation". It's housed in an old pottery factory which has been fully renovated but still retains its big old kiln.