Then we drove along the coast to Nice where we saw both the Matisse Museé and the Chagall Museé. The Matisse Museé was located in an old French building in a pleasant park. Both Matisse and Chagall worked on interior and exterior architectural designs for French churches. While Chagall primarily worked on stained glass windows and a few large scale wall mosaics.
At the Matisse Museé, we saw the development of his ideas including the mural of dancers. We saw drawings, detailed sketches and color compositions for the wall murals of the dancers. So it was interesting to see the development of his ideas from sketches to paintings. We also saw architectural designs for a French church. The sketches included the exterior, the interior, as well as garments for the priests during religious festivals.
At the Chagall Museé, we saw the drawings from the Odyssey series as well as the "Message Biblique" from the Old Testament. We saw many large paintings that he used as the inspiration for his stained glass windows. It was interesting to see these paintings after having the opportunity to see the windows at St. Stefan's Church in Mainz.
Everyone in our family enjoyed the Chagall Museé. After seeing many old churches as well as old but beautiful stained glass windows, it is refreshing to see the work of a modern artist. His stained glass windows encourage us to worship and glorify God. He creates an ethereal light using a traditional form that combines a modern treatment of line, color, and space. As we build new churches, we need to have a clear vision for creating a space that encourages us to worship God as well as fellowship and interact with each other in a dedicated community of believers.
