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The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
A brush with Cezanne in Aix-en-Provence, France: a blockbuster retrospective comes to town
Paul Cezanne is everywhere in Aix-en-Provence: there are streets named after him as well as a school, a cinema and even a sandwich (a version of traditional pan bagnat but with goat's cheese instead of tuna). And from late June, the whole city will go Cezanne mad, as the painter's atelier, north of the centre, and the family home to the west reopen after an eight-year restoration. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. But during Cezanne's lifetime, and for years after his death in 1906, Aix seemed at pains to ignore the artist later called the 'father of modern art'. When his widow, Hortense, offered several paintings to the city's main Musée Granet, director Henri Pontier declared that Cezanne paintings would enter the gallery only over his dead body. This year, however (with Pontier dead almost a century), Aix is making up for its neglect with a blockbuster exhibition at Musée Granet to accompany the unveiling of Cezanne's studio and the estate bought by the artist's family in 1859. The retrospective will bring together more than 130 works, including still lifes, portraits and landscapes. The paintings were all made in and around the Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, which was a refuge and inspiration for the painter for 40 years. Cezanne's banker father acquired the 18th-century mansion with its farm and 15 hectares (37 acres) from a bankrupt client. Disappointed that his only son had no interest in finance, he still let young Paul use the ground floor grand salon as a workspace. By 2017, however, the house had fallen into disrepair and was closed for a long renovation. Its grand opening is on 28 June, but we grab a sneak preview. Though now in an Aix suburb (20 minutes from the centre, or a few minutes on bus no 8), it's a charming place, three serene storeys in five hectares of verdant grounds, its shutters painted in Aix's signature grey-blue. Inside, projections on the walls of the grand salon recreate the paintings (later chiselled off and sold) young Cezanne made on the walls, including a 'four seasons' fresco. His card players series – one of which set a record in 2011 for the highest price ever paid for a work of art – was painted here, as was an 1866 portrait of Cezanne père reading a newspaper. (The artist and his family never used an accent on the first 'e' of their name: Cézanne seems to have been a later, Parisian invention.) The family later made a studio for Paul on the second floor, and its tall window, higher than the roofline, can be seen from the front. The kitchen and Madame Cezanne's bedroom can also be visited. Daily guided tours of the interior (available in English) will cost from €9.50, but if these sell out, a ticket just for the grounds is still rewarding. For many fans, Cezanne's genius lies in his outdoor works, and they come to life in the extensive gardens. There's the chestnut avenue he painted, the farm buildings and, most evocative for me, the square bassin (pond) that features in dozens of pictures. I'm excited to spot the lion and dolphin statues seen in several canvases, the lions with their bums in the air. (The majestic plane trees and orangery were added by later owners.) After his father died in 1886 and the estate was sold, Cezanne built his atelier in Les Lauves, then a rural area north of Aix, with views to the mountain that had long been his muse, Mont Sainte-Victoire. The 1,000-metre-high limestone ridge can be viewed from many points, including the roof terrace of our hotel, the Escaletto (doubles from €105) on the edge of the old town. It's a 15-minute walk from here to the atelier, up a road now called Avenue Paul Cézanne. The traditional-style house sits on rising ground, with kitchen and living areas on the ground floor; the first floor is one huge, high-ceilinged studio, with a full-height, north-facing window. This was his last workplace, where he painted the Bathers series, one of which is in London's National Gallery. After further renovations next winter, the lower floor will have displays including the artist's coat, palette and satchel. If Aix had mixed feelings about its famous son, those seem to have been mutual. Of the 1,000-plus paintings Cezanne left, just one is of the city: a watercolour of the fountain in Place de la Mairie. However, he made hundreds in the countryside around, including over 80 of Mont Sainte-Victoire. So the best way to find Cezanne's Provence is to get out of Aix. Between the city and the mountain is Bibémus quarry, source of the creamy ochre stone that has built Aix since Roman times. The bus trip there (no 6) is like a ride through a thousand paintings. These wooded hills are all protected, and daily tickets (from the tourist office) include a shuttle from the terminus at Les Trois Bons Dieux. What pictures can't convey is the loud birdsong, southern heat and early summer scents of pine and broom. Cezanne made 27 paintings here, developing his pre-cubist style and trademark palette of blue, green and ochre. Reproductions of paintings around the quarry show the vantage point from which they were made – and their current homes: this one now in New York, others in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore … Sign up to The Traveller Get travel inspiration, featured trips and local tips for your next break, as well as the latest deals from Guardian Holidays after newsletter promotion US tourists in Europe may not feel their homeland offers much to be proud of right now, but in Aix they can reflect with satisfaction that it was thanks to US collectors that Cezanne's fame spread and his legacy was preserved. The atelier would have been demolished for housing had a group of US collectors not saved it in 1952. And an American artist, George Bunker, bought the Bibémus quarry in 1954 and left it to the city when he died in 1991, on condition that the land be protected and open to visitors. Canadian sculptor David Campbell, now in his late 80s, with wizard-like white hair, was a friend of Bunker's and has lived here in a quarryman's cottage for 40 years. We spy him exercising on the edge of the site and he later shows us some of his fluid works in white limestone, plus masterly recreations of medieval masonry. The Red Rock (c.1895, now in Paris's Musée de l'Orangerie) is one of the best-known Cezanne quarry paintings, and the small post at the bottom left is still there today. But the site calls to my mind another in the National Gallery, with, unusually, a figure in white shirt and blue trousers dwarfed by a wall of orange rock. Visitors can also book a 6pm visit to Bibémus to enjoy the setting sun on Mont Sainte-Victoire (€17pp) or a half-day electric bike tour from Aix (€90pp including bike hire). The area may close unexpectedly, however, if mistral winds increase the risk of wildfires. One town the artist did choose to paint is Gardanne, around seven miles from Aix (eight minutes by train). Here, Cezanne tourism is more informal. A plaque on the main street, Cours Forbin, shows where he lived with his wife and son for a productive year in 1885-6. Nearby Colline des Frères (Brothers' Hill) was an open-air studio for Cezanne, and a free-to-visit walking route includes reproductions of paintings of his favourite mountain, with Gardanne and its bell tower in the foreground. (Power station cooling towers do detract slightly from today's view.) Again, these works are almost all now in the US – one even in the White House. The local tourist office does guided tours (€10, in English) on Fridays in July and August. There are no hotels in Gardanne, but a self-catering let meant we could make the most of the extensive street market under towering plane trees on Cours Forbin (Weds, Fri and Sun). I'm pleased to learn that the square blobs on the right of at least two of Cezanne's Gardanne paintings are windmills, which still stand. We climb north up Cativel hill and find three mills, one still with its sails, and the date 1567 over the door. They're on a gorgeous rolling hillside glowing in Cezanne colours, with interlocking shadows of umbrella pines completing the painterly scene. Aix may be all about Cezanne this year, but closer encounters may well be found off the main tourist trail. Cezanne at Jas de Bouffan opens 28 June and runs until 12 October at Musée Granet. The trip was provided by Aix-en-Provence tourism
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Dacia Bigster review: This budget contender is good enough to take the ‘ultimate family car' crown
It's past midday in the mountains behind Marseilles in the Bouche-du-Rhône department of France. I'm driving towards Aix-en-Provence and the screen is filled with the yellowish rocky landscape as the engine warbles gently under the bonnet. I'm looking forward to lunch, something well-cooked but simple, comforting and tasty. Ham, egg and chips, perhaps? Welcome to the new Dacia Bigster, a funny name for a ham-egg-and-chips offering in one of the most popular classes of car in Europe, the family SUV, with more than three million sold each year, taking in excess of 23 per cent of all new-car sales. It was only a matter of time before this Romanian-based company, owned and managed by Renault since 1999, grew its version of 'essentiality' into this crossover market. The latest Duster, launched last year, is already making inroads into the smaller B SUV class, while its Sandero hatchback is Europe's best-selling car. Last year Dacia sold a record 31,704 vehicles in the UK, more than Citroen, or Cupra, Honda and Mazda could manage, almost twice the sales of Fiat and making serious inroads into parent Renault's 57,967 registrations. How come? Part of the answer is provided by Denis Le Vot, Dacia's mercurial and hugely likeable chief executive. Priced to sell 'In 2019, the average cost of a car in the C-segment SUV class was €29,000 [£25,434 in historic rates], last year it was €38,000 [£32,168]. So, it was a little bit of the Covid, a little of the supply crisis, a little of energy cost, a little of the cost of the aluminium, or whatever you want,' he says. 'But cars are too expensive and people don't want to spend money on cars any more; they make choices…'. So, like some supermarket promotion, Dacia is turning the clock back five years on prices, except this isn't a promotion; this is what Dacia does. In the UK, the range starts at £24,995, rising to £26,245 for the penultimate Journey trim level and £26,495 for the top Extreme trim. You can't spend any more than £30,000, even for the most expensive model, while PCP deals start at £350 a month with a £350 deposit. These prices are where a lot of the closest rivals start for a car stripped out like a nuclear winter. Does that also apply to the Bigster? A resounding no. From the outside this is a good-looking vehicle, unthreatening, but supermarket-tough with car park-proof grey plastic panels on the sills and around the wheel arches. Heated seats... in a Dacia? And the interior? Dacia has spent the past few years asking questions, mainly of 400 German buyers (where this C-segment SUV market is strongest) what they like, what they don't, and what might convince them to buy one. I'm looking at the results now and I can see a well-designed twin-screen facia with tiles for heated seats, heated steering wheel… Hold on, heated seats on a Dacia? Le Vot bridles. 'Heated seats? Sure. Or people just walk away. These things are the 'essentiality' of the C-segment. We're not going premium, we just coldly and bluntly looked at what three million people every year are used to, and are not ready to be downgraded in any way.' There's lots of intelligent design, such as the middle-seat armrest in the rear containing cup holders and slots for smartphones, along with neat luggage restraint brackets. There's even a camping option with a double bed, as well as versatile roof bars. There's also a rear-seat tilt control in the boot so you aren't forced to dance between rear seats and the boot lid when you have a long load. Those rear seats are comfortable and spacious, with enough room for three large teenagers across the bench, which splits 40/20/40 per cent. It all feels like the Skoda promise of 'Simply Clever', although Dacia's decision to mix up the driver's seat adjustment – forward and back performed manually, with electric height and back recline – takes a little getting used to. You also still sit rather high, and the steering wheel adjustment is rather mean, but views out are expansive, the feeling of airiness boosted in the upper trim levels by a large sunroof (along with parking aids and a rear-view camera). On the road So how does Dacia's 'essentiality' translate into the driving experience? In two words, completely unexceptional. The Bigster is perfectly suited to the job of being a family troop carrier; think school runs, seaside trips, visiting relatives, shopping and more school runs. Or as Le Vot says: 'Right in the heart of the C-segment.' The major drivetrain choices are a 1.2-litre three-cylinder mild-hybrid petrol engine delivering 138bhp with front-wheel drive, or 127bhp with 4x4, along with a 153bhp, 1.8-litre front-drive Hybrid 155 – the only one available at the launch. This is an update on Renault's acclaimed hybrid system, with a clutchless automatic gearbox with two motors, and gears engaged with dog gears rather than conventional synchro rings. The larger-capacity, four-cylinder engine has more torque (127lb ft) than the three-cylinder 1.2 to help smooth the gear changes. The engine still booms noisily if you floor the accelerator pedal, and it requires notice in triplicate before overtaking, but driven gently this is a quiet and companionable power unit, brisk enough for a family SUV. Over a variety of road types and surfaces (and on 19-inch wheels) the ride is acceptable, although it feels slightly crashy on very broken surfaces, and slightly floaty on smoothly undulating ones. The body rolls in corners, but it's well controlled and long journeys are comfortable. The steering isn't the sharpest, but it turns nicely off the straight ahead and feels accurate and well weighted. The brake pedal has a bit of lost movement at the top of the travel, but stopping feels strong and progressive once the pads are engaged. The handling is controlled, with fine damping and a neat, confidence-inspiring feeling at the wheel underpinned with safe-and-sensible nose-on understeer. There are no industry-standard Euro NCAP crash test results yet, but quietly Dacia is expecting four stars. The Telegraph verdict What comes across strongly to anyone who has driven earlier generations of Dacia cars is just how much thought and design has gone into the Bigster. It's simply better in every respect. There is greater refinement, with less interior noise thanks to drivetrain improvements, along with more insulation and thicker window glass. The ride comfort is better, thanks to what feels like improved damping and suspension. In the facia the screens are better designed, more spread out and easier to read. Using the 'Perso' switch, with which you can also select various dynamic settings, for also turning off lane-keeping and speed limit warnings, is excellent. In the words of a sports coach, Dacia has raised its game. I think Dacia will sell the Bigster by the bucketload. The facts On test: Dacia Bigster Hybrid 155 Journey Body style: C-segment five-door SUV On sale: now How much? range from £24,995 (£29,245 as tested) How fast? 112mph, 0-62mph in 9.7sec How economical? 60.1mpg (WLTP Combined), 58.9mpg on test Engine & gearbox: 1.8-litre four-cylinder naturally-aspirated petrol, clutchless geared automatic transmission and hybrid drive system, front-wheel drive Maximum power/torque: 153bhp @ 5,300rpm/129lb ft @ 3,000rpm CO2 emissions: 105g/km (WLTP Combined) Warranty: 3 years/60,000 miles (up to 7 years/75,000 miles if annually serviced by Dacia) The rivals Suzuki Vitara, from £26,949 Smaller family crossover but similar prices starting with the Motion Mild Hybrid, front-wheel drive with a 127bhp/173lb ft, 1.4-litre mild hybrid unit and manual gearbox, giving a top speed of 121mph, 0-62mph in 9.5sec, 53.2mpg and 118g/km. Equipment isn't too sparse either. There's also a 4x4 option on top models. Nissan Qashqai, from £30,135 Similarly-sized market-leading family crossover (4,425mm long) but a lot more expensive. Two powertrains are offered: a 1.3-litre mild hybrid with manual or automatic gearbox (including optional 4x4), or 1.5-litre e-power range-extending battery power. The lowest power unit gives 122mph, 0-62mph in 10.4sec, 45mpg and 142g/km. Nicely engineered – and built in Britain.
New York Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Learning to Love Cézanne in His Picture-Perfect Hometown
Paul Cézanne's artistic muse had sweeping shoulders, an enigmatic face and majestic beauty that loomed over his life's work. But that obsession was a mountain, not a woman. Seduced by the sun's chameleon-like effect on its limestone ridges, Cézanne painted more than 80 versions of Montagne Ste.-Victoire, a granite massif near his hometown, the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence. Aix is where Cézanne (1839-1906) was born and first put brush to palette. It's where he painted many of his masterpieces, and it's where he died. This year, from June to October, the city is honoring that legacy with a series of events linked to the reopening on June 28 of both the renovated Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, the artist's 18th-century family manor, and the Atelier des Lauves, his last workshop. This celebration, Cézanne 2025, made Aix one of The New York Times 52 Places to Go in 2025 and will bring up to 400,000 more visitors to a city that's already a prime summer destination. Key sites will be open only for guided visits, so reserve ahead. This outpouring of admiration would have never happened a century ago. The Aixois generally derided the painter during his lifetime: The Impressionists aimed to please with their pretty palette. The Post-Impressionist Cézanne shocked with his bold colors and geometric forms. 'It takes time to like Cézanne because he is more complex than you realize,' said Bruno Ely, director of the Musée Granet, which will present the largest collection of Cézanne's work to date as part of Cézanne 2025. Blvd. Aristide Briand Paris France St.-Sauveur Cathedral Aix-en- Provence Rue Mignet Las Galinas Place Richelme Palais de Justice Aix-en-Provence Palais Comtale Bar Le Grillon Rue d'Italie Cours Mirabeau Mazarin District Ave. Victor Hugo Rue cardinale Musée Granet Gallifet Cours Gambetta Maison du Collectionneur Blvd. du Roi René Château de Vauvenargues 2 miles Barrage de Bimont Jardin des Peintres Ste.-Victoire Priory Atelier des Lauves Bastide du Jas de Bouffan Bibemus Quarries Croix de Provence Detail area Montagne Ste.-Victoire A51 France A8 Bastide Bourrelly A52 By The New York Times Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Times
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
My journey through Provence in the footsteps of my favourite artists
To my hero, the art critic Robert Hughes, the painter Paul Cézanne's studio just outside Aix-en-Provence was 'one of the sacred places of the modern mind'. You can still visit it, a sparse, high-ceilinged room with a huge window looking out into the haze of green branches and pink blossoms of a deep garden (£8, reopens on June 28; It has been furnished (not untastefully) by its 21st-century curators with various objets that Cézanne's admirers will recognise from his still lifes: apples, onions, a statue of a cherub, a blue jug. It was from here that Cézanne — a prudish, pious provincial with a bald head and shabby clothes — launched one of the most important revolutions in modern art. In painting after painting, Cézanne captured the dry intensity of a Provençal landscape burned to an archaic, shimmering austerity of elementary forms by the Mediterranean sun: a tower is a cylinder, a village a jumble of polygons as clumsy as children's wooden blocks. Cézanne always seems to me to be trying to grasp some essential quality of reality beyond superficial appearances that no painter before him had ever seen. It is from his painting that the history of modern art unfolds. But Provence does not belong to Cézanne alone. Perhaps no landscape on earth has attracted such a concentration of artistic genius. The fierce clarity of Provençal light drew artists to it like fabulous moths: Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, André Derain. It has also, less exaltedly, lured innumerable tourists. Including, recently, me. I am a devoted fan of these 20th-century painters of the south of France (so much more exciting, in my opinion, than the often cloying and decorative impressionists of the preceding generation). It was time to see these famous, genius-catalysing landscapes for myself. A devotee of the French transport system — the comfiest seats in the world are in first class on the TGV — I travelled by train. The first leg is the Eurostar to Paris. It's good to do it this way because the city's museums provide a good taste of what is to come — a Cézanne view of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire and Matisse's Luxury, Calm and Pleasure (the qualities I'm hoping to get out of this holiday) in the Musée d'Orsay and some colour-saturated Bonnards in the Petit Palais (£14, free, Grey Paris makes these visions of southern light glow all the more seductively. The hotel my girlfriend and I are staying in, the Experimental Marais, is well situated for museum-going (B&B doubles from £320; My anxious speculation about what an 'experimental' hotel might involve — sleeping pods? Robot waiters at the breakfast buffet? — is soon assuaged. It is a resolutely conventional hotel with a nice restaurant (though avoid the desert-dry chicken) and just a hint of chic bohemianism about the interior design. About my level of 'experimental'. • 10 of the most beautiful places in France (and how to see them) From Paris, the train to Arles. The four-hour journey would be a nightmare in the UK; in France it's a privilege to sit in the TGV's luxurious armchairs for so long. Arles was where Van Gogh cut off his earlobe and gave it to a maid in a brothel — an act of morbid weirdness that he would be horrified to learn now defines his public image. Arles is also where he painted some of his most immortal masterpieces: The Yellow House, Starry Night over the Rhône and Café Terrace at Night. You can see the café and you can see the Rhône, and the past Van Gogh was painting from comes to seem less remote. In those days before the railways (and TGV seats) the south seemed a foreign land to a painter from northern Europe: 'The brothels, the adorable little Arlésienne going to her First Communion, the priest in his surplice, who looks like a dangerous rhinoceros, the people drinking absinthe, all seem to me creatures from another world,' Van Gogh exclaimed in a letter. Here he felt closer to the tropics than to the watery, cloud-shadowed Netherlands of his birth. 'Not only in Africa but even from Arles onwards, you'll naturally find fine contrasts between reds and greens, blues and oranges, sulphur and lilac,' he wrote. The intensity of southern colour matched the intensity of Van Gogh's soul. We love our B&B in Arles. Maison Huit is a 17th-century house crammed with arty junk (bowler hats, pictures, primitive statues, jars, sidetables) and presided over by the charming and attentive Julia, an artistic lady in a waistcoat and headscarf (B&B doubles from £76; In the mornings her sidekick Aladdin serves us breakfast (jam, croissants, yoghurt, coffee) in the ancient stone kitchen while she regales us with stories of growing up in Malaysia in the 1970s. One evening we are invited along to a soirée she is hosting to launch an exhibition by a luxuriously coiffed young French man who canoed all the way down the Rhône and did drawings of what he saw along the way. Julia introduces us to various of her friends, including a Shakespearean actor and a disarmingly mild-mannered retired bullfighter. In Arles, I get sidetracked from impressionism by my infatuation with the town's 12th-century church, Saint Trophime (free; Place de la République). For my money it's one of the finest Romanesque churches in Europe. I love its great square fortress of a tower looming up against the blue Mediterranean sky above the shady low-slung cloisters. Best of all is the church's portal, with its ranks of grim-looking saints and bishops, and beneath them bulky flat-snouted lions chewing on the limp, formless bodies of sinners. We sit on the steps and eat strawberries, which are in season and on sale everywhere. The Fondation Vincent Van Gogh Arles has no permanent collection of the artist's work (£8.50, free for those under 26; It gets a couple of works at a time from other museums and is hit and miss. On our visit we get two of his sludgy social justice-y early pictures — the bowed and unhappy labourers toiling under a muddy sky in Peasant and Peasant Woman Planting Potatoes look even more abject than the stone sinners cowering on the portals of Saint Trophime. Basket of Potatoes makes the viewer glad that Van Gogh moved on to more promising plants such as sunflowers and irises. The main show is a retrospective of the artist Sigmar Polke who was, we learn, haunted by the symbolism of the potato. 'The tuber's power to germinate is what interests the artist because it can evoke artistic inspiration and production,' one of the signs explains. One of Polke's artworks is a wooden house with potatoes nailed onto it. Another is a potato on a stick twirling around in circles by a motor. 'He never abandoned the potato motif,' another sign says. 'I wish he had,' I sigh to my girlfriend as we trudge into the fourth room of potato art. • The best things to do in Provence It is surely an important sign of Van Gogh's genius that he did abandon the potato motif. Our next stop, St Rémy de Provence, puts us more in touch with the visionary later-period Van Gogh. He lived in the Saint-Paul de Mausole insane asylum here for a year (£8; It's hard to imagine, amid the pleasant National Trust-style reconstructions of doctors' desks and iron bedsteads, how horrible this place must have seemed when Van Gogh stayed here in the grip of hallucinations, paranoid delusions, depression and mania. From his room he could hear the 'cries and howls' of the fellow patients like the noises made by 'beasts in a menagerie'. But outside Van Gogh feels almost eerily present. You can't go to Dickens's London and meet Magwitch and Oliver Twist, but you can go to St-Rémy-de-Provence and encounter Van Gogh's twisted silver olive trees and purple irises and the dark cypresses which, he wrote, were 'always occupying my thoughts as beautiful in line and form as an Egyptian obelisk, a splash of black in a sunny landscape' (Van Gogh is almost unique among great painters in writing well about his own art). The purple irises are especially present during our visit — out on every verge and in the garden of the lovely farmhouse Mas de la Croix where we're staying (room-only doubles from £72; Aix is the city of Cézanne and one of the most beautiful in Europe, with its crumbling yellow streets, shady squares and fountains. Cézanne didn't paint the town. To get in touch with his spirit you have to travel out into the countryside. One way to do it is to take an Uber (or drive) out to the charming little town of Le Tholonet. You don't have to walk far from there to get splendid views of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, the grey leonine crag of mountain that Cézanne painted again and again towards the end of his life and which towers over the surrounding plain. It is one of the great presences in the history of art and you feel it peering over your shoulder even when you're not looking at it — it's like going for a walk with the Mona Lisa. For many people, Cézanne is one of those artists who is easier to admire than to love. Those formal, almost architectural landscapes are clearly important. But sometimes the sense of importance can become oppressive. Not so with Matisse. Everyone loves Matisse (just search for his name on Instagram), a painter of bright colours, blue Mediterranean skies and simple, legible designs. The place for Matisse, euphoniously enough, is Nice. He moved to the city in 1917 — to paint his pictures he believed he needed to access a serene state of mind that he couldn't find in 'any atmosphere other than that of the Côte d'Azur'. • Explore our full guide to France His most famous pictures of the city are of the interiors of shuttered rooms in apartments and hotels upholstered in womblike red carpets and curtains and drowsing in the warm summer light, with the blues of the sea and sky glimpsed beyond the windows as vivid as a dream. They are some of the most calming paintings ever made, marrying the peace of the interior with the oceanic calm of the sea. An exhibition at the Musée Matisse later this summer will show one of my favourite of these Matisse paintings, Interior with a Violin Case (£10; But we miss that. And sadly the weather we experience is a bit like that depicted in a painting in the museum's permanent collection — Tempête à Nice, with its surging sky and grey and brown sea. We retreat to our hotel room in the oddly named Mama Shelter Nice, which if not exactly womblike is certainly cheerful (verging on the zany). In our room there is a Bugs Bunny mask tied to the lamp — I would like to see what Matisse would have made of that (room-only doubles from £85; Often, to go in search of writers and artists in the place they lived is to be disappointed by nondescript houses and unimpressive landscapes. Not Provence. It still shimmers — not only with that famous light but with the living memory of Marriott was a guest of Byway, which has 13 nights' B&B from £2,289pp, including train travel ( Experimental Marais ( Mama Shelter Nice ( and Sawday's (
Zawya
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Zawya
VinFast signs new dealer agreements in France and Germany, further expands dealership network in Europe
PARIS, FRANCE - Media OutReach Newswire – 9 May 2025 – VinFast today announced the signing of a dealership agreement with ASTRADA SIMVA, its first official dealer partner in France, and Schachtschneider Automobile GmbH & Co KG, its second dealer in Germany. This marks a significant milestone in VinFast's strategy to accelerate its sales model through dealerships globally, while reaffirming the Company's strong commitment to driving the green transition in Europe. As VinFast's first official authorized dealership in France, ASTRADA SIMVA will operate one VinFast showroom located in Aix-en-Provence. The showroom is expected to be operational starting in June 2025. Meanwhile, Schachtschneider Automobile GmbH & Co KG will establish three authorized VinFast dealer showrooms. Previously, VinFast successfully signed a cooperation agreement with the dealership Autohaus Hübsch in Germany and opened two showrooms in the market, offering a comprehensive customer experience. At all VinFast dealer showrooms operated by ASTRADA SIMVA and Schachtschneider Automobile, European consumers will be able to explore, test drive, and purchase the VinFast VF 6 (B-segment) and VinFast VF 8 (D-segment), along with access to genuine after-sales service, warranty, and parts. Throughout the entire partnership, VinFast is committed to providing maximum support to its authorized dealerships through in-depth personnel training, equipping staff with robust product knowledge and maintenance/repair procedures, ensuring maximum peace of mind for customers. This collaboration with reputable European dealerships is part of VinFast's strategy to develop an enhanced global dealership network, and is currently being implemented in Germany and the Netherlands. This strategy aims not only to optimize operational efficiency and increase brand reach but also to rapidly address the growing demands of customers. Mr. Renzo Schachtschneider, General Manager/Owner of Schachtschneider Automobile, shared: "We are proud to partner with VinFast, standing alongside this Vietnamese brand in driving the global green revolution. With a strong belief in the potential of electric vehicles and VinFast's prospects in the European market, we are committed to contributing value to achieve mutually beneficial collaboration, delivering leading products and services to consumers." Mr. Chris Durand, CEO of ASTRADA SIMVA, added: "We are proud to collaborate with VinFast, an innovative and fast-growing EV brand. Bringing the VF 6 and VF 8 models to Aix-en-Provence presents a great opportunity to diversify our offerings and give our customers exciting new choices. The arrival of stylish, quiet, and emission-free vehicles will enhance life in a region that is celebrated for its harmonious blend of tradition and modernity." Ms. Thuy Le, Chairwoman of VinFast, shared: "By partnering with ASTRADA SIMVA and Schachtschneider Automobile GmbH & Co KG, VinFast is taking further steps to transition to a full dealer franchise model in Europe, reaffirming our commitment to this significant market. By capitalizing on their established reputation, inherent capabilities, existing infrastructure, and comprehensive understanding of local markets, we are committed to achieving effective expansion across European markets with a focus on long-term sustainable growth." VinFast remains committed to growing its dealer and distributor network across France, Germany, and the Netherlands, and to expanding in other European markets, while simultaneously expanding its range of smart electric vehicles, reinforcing its long-term commitment to European consumers. Furthermore, to ensure a seamless experience and provide peace of mind for customers, VinFast has partnered with after-sales service providers, leveraging 22 dedicated technical centers across Europe, including 8 in Germany, 12 in France, and 2 in the Netherlands. Customers can also access a network of authorized service workshops provided by VinFast's partners, which includes ATU in Germany, Norauto in France, and LKQ in the Netherlands. VinFast has also collaborated with Fixico in these three markets to offer professional body and paint services to customers. Globally, VinFast has rapidly expanded its global presence in potential markets through a dealership business model including Indonesia, the Philippines, India, and the Middle East. With a diverse product lineup ranging from the mini-SUV VF 3 to the full-size VF 9, VinFast has become the top-selling car brand in Vietnam and surpassed global sales targets in 2024, laying a solid foundation for sustainable long-term growth. Hashtag: #VinFast The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. About VinFast VinFast (NASDAQ: VFS), a subsidiary of Vingroup JSC, one of Vietnam's largest conglomerates, is a pure-play electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer with the mission of making EVs accessible to everyone. VinFast's product lineup today includes a wide range of electric SUVs, e-scooters, and e-buses. VinFast is currently embarking on its next growth phase through rapid expansion of its distribution and dealership network globally and increasing its manufacturing capacities with a focus on key markets across North America, Europe and Asia. Learn more at: VinFast
