Viewing Marseille from a corner of the Calanques, I realised again how much the city is part of the natural landscape. Even the basilica Notre-Dame de la Garde, at the city’s highest point, seems hewn out of limestone.

The light of autumn is very different, changing quicker, making days shorter. Recently, I watched an interview with Al Gore, the campaigner of An Inconvenient Truth, he expressed his deep appreciation for Greta Thunberg and all the youth that are involved in action against climate change.

For the first time I heard of the youth action group Sunrise Movement in the USA, who are promoting the Green New Deal. As they say, the future belongs to the youth, and many of today’s youth have woken up early to take care of that future.

To learn more about the art of Provence, I visited the Musée Regards de Provence that shows works of artists that have been profoundly inspired by the diverse and colorful landscape and coastline of south France. The painters were all born in the period of post-impressionism and continued with that inspiration.

The change from impressionism to post-impressionism lies in the depiction of natural light and colors to .. letting the drive of emotion choose the colors and light. With other words, post-impressionism does not follow conventional expectations.

The sceneries in these paintings are easily recognised in real time. So are the colors. As autumn brings out deep colors, my visit to Valmer Park on the coastline of Marseille gave a palette of sunset glow on autumn foliage.

When the sun sets there is that time of fleeting magic. Some people don’t notice and stay on their smartphones while others become part of it. Far the sun. Near its light.

All Photos Copyright © 2019 August Timmermans – All Rights Reserved