Kim&Etienne

The place

French Riviera

Belle Époque villas, palm trees and perched villages between Saint-Tropez and Italy, with the mountains rising straight behind the sea.

August works here with a little planning.

The light

How the light falls there

Matisse stayed in Nice for this light: clear and bright, thrown back by the sea onto pale walls. The coast faces south, so in summer the sun sets over the hills rather than into the water, and the sky above the bay turns pink after it. Midsummer middays are glaring — portraits belong to the early morning and the last hour.