Wedged between the mountains and the sea, Collioure has over two and a half millennia of history woven into the fabric of its narrow lanes and picturesque buildings. A cultural melting pot, over the centuries Greeks, Romans, Arabs and the Spanish have put down roots here. French for less than four hundred years, the red and yellow striped flags that fly around the town are a sign that Collioure’s identity is still very much Catalan.
While low key compared to the more famous Catalonia across the border in Spain, this region of France was once part of the ancient, independent and Catalan speaking County of Barcelona. It retains a strong sense of that culture and history, most obvious in the French and Catalan street names. Visitors to the town and local area a century ago would have heard Catalan spoken, although it is having a resurgence today.
When a penniless Henri Matisse arrived in the town looking for inspiration in the summer of 1905, he would have been immersed in Catalan culture as much as the glorious coastal light and luminous Mediterranean colours of the houses. So enamoured of the town was Matisse, that he invited his friend André Derain to join him. That summer they painted a series of groundbreaking artworks that began a new movement: Fauvism.
The simplistic style and bold, primary colours of their experimental work earned the two artists the nickname Les Fauves, or the Wild Beasts. Soon they were joined by other artists – Picasso, Dufy, Dali, Braque, Chagall and Charles Rennie Mackintosh to name a few – and writers, all lured by the charms of this quiet town famed for the ever changing light, the azure waters and sky, and the ochre façades of the buildings.
A Fauvism trail around town honours the two men who put Collioure on the artistic map. Walk in the backstreets and you will discover many small artists studios and galleries. It’s not a big place and gets busy with tourists in the summer, but in the narrow, car free lanes that wind uphill away from the crowds on the seafront, you get a real feel for what the town must have been like in that summer of 1905.
It’s hard to imagine today, but that summer in Collioure was revolutionary for the European art world. Back in Paris, an exhibition of Matisse and Derain’s Collioure works caused a scandal. One newspaper critic described their paintings as “a pot of paint flung in the public’s face”. It was at this point they earned the name Les Fauves. So it was that a small, obscure town changed the world.
The Collioure in which Matisse and Derain found themselves was a sleepy backwater in the early 20th century. A once bustling fishing port – anchovies have been big business here since medieval times – by the 19th century the fishing industry had moved to the much larger Port-Vendres. Fishing boats continued to supply anchovies to the thirty or so salt-curing workshops that survived until the Second World War, but Collioure’s heyday had passed.
The anchovy industry clings on in the town through the Anchois Roque company, which has been part of its history since 1870 and still processes anchovies in a traditional, artisanal way. You can visit and a nice woman will demonstrate the art of preparing each and every anchovy by hand. I’m not a fan of the highly salted version, but I’m informed the contents of a jar that found its way into our luggage were excellent.
We spent a happy week in this beautiful little town. When it came time to leave, France’s anchovy capital had found a very definite place in our hearts. Even in summer when the town is engulfed in tourism, the heady mix of culture, history, excellent food and the ever so amazing Mediterranean light, makes Collioure a place for repeat visits.
I also have fond memories of my visit to Collioure. The beauty of the bay, with the round bell tower adding to the scenery, makes it a truly beautiful landscape.
It is such a beautiful place, I was completely wowed by it.