Marseilles, France: Beaux Arts, Brutalism, and a French speaking Wallaby

Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation, an icon of 20th century architecture.

With today being our last one in Marseilles and our final day together as a group for a while, I was starting to realise that Annie, Carol, and I travelled at different speeds. They liked to do one or two things, avoid over-planning, move slowly, notice small details around them (taps, handles, dogs), and punctuate every hour or two with coffee, cake, lunch, beer, and a moment of contemplation. I knew I had a shortlist of places to see and an ICOM pass that granted free entry to most of them, so I headed out early. First stop, after a 30-minute walk, was the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille or, in English, the Museum of Fine Arts (not nearly as romantic when translated, is it?).

On the way to the Beaux Arts Museum.

Regardless of what was inside the museum, the entrance was impressive. Both Musée des Beaux-Arts and the adjacent Museum of Natural History are located within a wing of the grand Palais Longchamp, so there are plenty of photo opportunities outside.

The grand Palais Longchamp.

The 19th century Musée des Beaux-Arts houses exquisite fine art pieces from the 16th-19th centuries and is the oldest museum in Marseille. After managing to communicate with the staff with my nonexistent French and their nonexistent English, I was still able to use my ICOM pass to gain free entry and got to enjoy viewing the old masters - as long as I viewed the rooms in the right order as I was disciplined for walking into the right hand side before the left on one floor; chronology must be important to the staff. Even though Marseilles is the second largest city in France, that doesn't mean more people speak English. In fact, after procuring from me my nationality (a requirement for museum staff upon presentation of the ICOM pass), one of the staff looked a bit confused and after a mumble to her colleague, asked tentatively if I would like an English brochure/ guide. They must have wondered what language 'Orstrahlians' speak.

The grand entrance at the Musée des Beaux-Arts.

Since I knew entry would be free, I figured I might as well glide through the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Marseille (Museum of Natural History), just across the grand fountain. There’s something charming about those taxidermied animals, frozen mid-story in their little mise-en-scene worlds, and it’s an added treat when you stumble into a museum that hasn’t been swallowed by modern infrastructure. The first floor was exactly that: no giant painted dioramas like the one in New York, but plenty of old-style charm.

The top floor, by contrast, had surrendered to digital displays, though every bit of text and dialogue was entirely in French. The staff kindly tried to nudge me toward interacting with it all, and I did my best to gesture that I couldn’t understand a word. That suited me just fine. One of the displays featured animated animal portraits, including a wallaby speaking fluent French. I’ll never know what he was saying, and maybe that’s part of the joke.

Delightful specimens at the Muséum d’histoire Naturelle de Marseille (Museum of Natural History).

A bit more walking and a train (or was it a bus) later, I arrived at the much anticipated Musée d'Art Contemporain (Museum of contemporary art). Yes!! I immediately felt at home with Louise Bourgois sculptures in the garden stimulating you as you walk along to the doorway.

Louise Bourgeois sculpture at the entrance to the Musée d'Art Contemporain (Museum of contemporary art).

Their major temporary exhibition "What Love ?!" was over many rooms and carried the usual warning: 'This exhibition includes images, some of which may offend the sensitivity of the public and especially the young audience. These works will therefore not be accessible to unaccompanied minors' and in fact attendance in general was poor which is a shame for such as great museum. I love the exhibition intro: 'Envisioned as two interlacing journeys, the exhibition invites visitors to choose their point of entry and, eventually, to separate from the person they may have come with… As the singer Ian Curtis declared in 1980, “Love will tear us apart…”' What a refreshing contrast to the more chronological expectation from most museums. And the artist list invites a broad interpretation of what love might be: Gilbert & George, Marina Abramovic and Ulay,Nan Goldin and Felix Gonzalez Torres and more. I could have stayed longer, but having travelled some distance, I needed to visit as least one more site that was on this side of the city.

Artwork from What Love? exhibition at Musée d'Art Contemporain (Museum of contemporary art).

Less than a 30-minute walk away, I found one of the 20th century’s most iconic buildings: Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation. Brutalism at its finest, and perfectly named, since “brutal” comes from the French for concrete. The 18-storey tower is still home to tenants, so visitors can only explore three floors, including the top. I made it upstairs and photographed all the striking concrete pillars on the rooftop; those raw, geometric forms are even more mesmerizing from above. Outside, the building is equally unforgettable, its bold use of primary colours punctuating the grey concrete and giving it a playful, almost sculptural presence in the Marseille skyline. Stepping inside and seeing the original 1947–1952 architecture up close was a real thrill.

On the rooftop of Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation.

Leadlight windows at ground level at Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation.

After I had exhausted all photo opportunities I realised I still had time to visit one more museum; with google maps at hand, I walked, got lost and walked again to Musée de la Faïence de Marseille (Museum of Decorative arts), which, like so many European museums, was in a Palace or Chateau, this one being Château Borély, which is at the end of a long avenue in the 120 hectares (300 acres) Campagne Pastré park, owned by the city of Marseille. It was a worthwhile visit despite exhausting most of my aesthetic appreciation muscles at the other sites. I really loved the fashion displays, with items curated thematically in colours.

A blue themed wall at Musée de la Faïence de Marseille (Museum of Decorative arts).

Red room at Musée de la Faïence de Marseille (Museum of Decorative arts).

Blue room at Musée de la Faïence de Marseille (Museum of Decorative arts).