There are landscapes that are beautiful, and then there are landscapes that seem almost impossible to paint realistically.
The Estérel is very much the latter.
With its extraordinary red volcanic rocks plunging toward an intensely blue Mediterranean, pine-covered hills and brilliant Provençal light, the coastline between Saint-Raphaël, Agay, Anthéor and Le Trayas has long possessed an almost theatrical quality. At the beginning of the 20th century, a generation of painters discovered that this landscape offered something more than a picturesque view: it offered a completely new way of thinking about colour, light and form.
That story is now being explored in a remarkable exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Draguignan: “Les roches rouges — Éclosion artistique dans l’Estérel à l’aube du XXe siècle.” Running until 31 October 2026, the exhibition brings together around 50 paintings and graphic works, along with archival material, to examine how the Estérel became an important setting for artistic experimentation.
For anyone who loves the Côte d’Azur — and particularly the Saint-Raphaël area — it offers an entirely different reason to visit the region.
The Landscape that Painters Couldn’t Resist
Today, it is easy to take the Estérel for granted. Drive the Corniche d’Or between Saint-Raphaël and Cannes and the landscape seems almost designed for Instagram: rust-red cliffs, turquoise water, umbrella pines and tiny coves appearing around every bend.
For artists arriving here more than a century ago, however, the landscape was something much more radical.
The intense red of the volcanic rock set against the deep blue of the Mediterranean and the greens of the vegetation created a combination of colours that seemed to demand a departure from conventional landscape painting. The exhibition explores precisely this phenomenon — how painters searching for stronger colour, light and material expression found an extraordinary laboratory in the Estérel.
Among the artists drawn to the area were Louis Valtat, Albert Marquet, Charles Camoin and Armand Guillaumin, alongside artists associated with post-impressionism, pointillism, Nabis and Fauvism.
The Estérel wasn’t simply somewhere they painted.
It helped change the way they painted.
Agay, Anthéor and Le Trayas Became an Artists’ World
At the turn of the century, the coastline around Saint-Raphaël was becoming considerably more accessible.
The opening of the Corniche d’Or in 1903 helped transform Agay, Anthéor and Le Trayas from relatively remote coastal locations into destinations that could be reached and explored by artists, tourists and travellers. Contemporary guides described the area as a “colonie nombreuse et distinguée d’artistes” — a sizable and distinguished colony of artists.
That combination of accessibility and extraordinary scenery proved irresistible.
Louis Valtat was among the artists who became particularly associated with the area, and his enthusiasm helped attract other painters. His Les Roches rouges à Anthéor, painted in 1901, is now part of the exhibition in Draguignan on loan from the Centre Pompidou.
The painting is a perfect example of what made the landscape so compelling: the rocks aren’t treated as a passive background. Their colour, shape and texture become the subject itself.
The French government’s Joconde heritage database describes the intense, almost fiery colour of the rocks juxtaposed against the deep blue sea as central to the work’s visual power.
Marquet and The Red Rocks of Agay
One of the names most closely associated with the exhibition is Albert Marquet, whose work helps demonstrate how differently artists could respond to the same landscape.
Marquet, Valtat, Camoin and others presented views of the Estérel around the time of the 1905 Salon d’Automne in Paris, the exhibition traditionally associated with the public emergence of Fauvism.
But the exhibition is careful not to reduce the story simply to Fauvism.
That is one of its strengths.
The Estérel attracted artists with very different approaches. Some pursued intense, liberated colour. Others experimented with pointillist techniques or decorative compositions. Some focused on the changing effects of weather and light, while others introduced human figures into the landscape.
The result is a fascinating reminder that there was never one single “Estérel style.”
There was an Estérel experience.
A Landscape that Became a Laboratory
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Les roches rouges is the idea that the Estérel functioned almost as an artistic laboratory.
The exhibition examines how painters repeatedly returned to the same locations, experimenting with different viewpoints, seasons, atmospheric conditions and techniques. The massif became something they could study, reinterpret and reinvent.
The same red cliffs could therefore become completely different paintings depending upon who was looking at them.
Guillaumin explored variations in light and weather. Valtat responded to the explosive colour of the rocks. Marquet approached the landscape with a more restrained balance between sea, sky and land. Other artists incorporated figures, architecture or decorative elements.
It is a reminder that the Côte d’Azur has always been more than a pretty backdrop.
It has been a place of experimentation.
And Suddenly Saint-Raphaël Looks Different
This is where the exhibition becomes particularly interesting for anyone considering Saint-Raphaël as a place to visit — or even to live.
Seeing these paintings and then travelling out toward Agay, Anthéor or Le Trayas changes the experience of the landscape.
You begin recognising the views that captivated the artists.
The enormous red formations of the Cap Roux. The coastline around Anthéor. The sweeping bay of Agay. The rocky coves. The strange collision of Mediterranean blue with the rust and ochre of the volcanic massif.
And you realise that the artists weren’t exaggerating.
The colours really are that extraordinary.
The Exhibition is Also a Reason to Explore the Real Estérel
The smartest way to experience Les roches rouges may be to treat the museum as the beginning rather than the end of the experience.
See the paintings in Draguignan, then drive back toward the coast.
Follow the Corniche d’Or.
Stop at Agay.
Continue toward Anthéor and Le Trayas.
Look at the rocks.
Look at the sea.
Then look again.
The museum’s programme also includes guided visits and activities connected with the exhibition, including walks in the Estérel. Guided tours are scheduled on Wednesdays and Sundays at 11 a.m., with additional Friday tours during the summer and autumn holiday periods.
There is even a September conference exploring the artistic journeys between the Creuse Valley and the Estérel and the role of plein-air painting and improved transportation in the development of artistic communities such as Agay.
A Fascinating Chapter of Côte d’Azur History
There is a tendency to tell the history of the French Riviera through its most famous names and destinations: Nice, Cannes, Monaco, Saint-Tropez.
But the artistic history of the coast is considerably more complicated — and considerably more interesting.
The Estérel was not merely somewhere artists stopped on their way elsewhere.
For a remarkable period around the beginning of the 20th century, it became a destination in its own right, attracting painters who were looking for new subjects and new ways to express the modern world.
And the landscape around Saint-Raphaël gave them exactly what they were looking for.
Go Before the Rocks Disappear Behind the Crowds
There is something particularly appealing about discovering this history today.
Saint-Raphaël remains one of the Riviera’s more understated destinations. It has the Mediterranean, the beaches, the marina, the Belle Époque architecture and the restaurants, but beyond the waterfront lies something even more remarkable: an extraordinary natural landscape that still looks remarkably close to the one that captivated those early modern painters.
Les roches rouges gives visitors the opportunity to understand why.
The exhibition runs until 31 October 2026 at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Draguignan, 9 rue de la République. The museum is less than 50 kilometres from the Estérel itself, making it particularly easy to combine with a day exploring Saint-Raphaël, Agay and the Corniche d’Or.
And perhaps the best part is what happens after you leave the museum.
You drive back toward the Mediterranean, round a bend on the Corniche d’Or, and suddenly the landscape opens in front of you.
Red rock.
Blue sea.
Green pines.
Brilliant light.
For a moment, you see exactly what the painters saw more than a century ago.
And you understand why they kept coming back.
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