Antibes, France

White steel 'Nomade' sculpture by Jaume Plensa on the Antibes ramparts with the Maritime Alps beyond

Jaume Plensa’s ‘Nomade’ keeps watch from the Bastion Saint-Jaume, the snow-capped Maritime Alps rising across the bay.

Antibes, is a small city in the French Rivera a short train ride from San Rafael.

Ruth leaning on the Antibes rampart wall overlooking the Mediterranean coastline

Ruth takes in the view from the old sea wall, the harbor and headland of Antibes stretching out behind her.

Elongated bronze figure sculpture on a plinth above Antibes harbor with sailboats

A weathered bronze figure reaches skyward on the rampart walk, sailboats drifting across the bay beyond.

Ruth beside Picasso's painting La Joie de Vivre at the Musée Picasso in Antibes

Ruth beside Picasso’s ‘La Joie de Vivre’ in the Musée Picasso, which he painted here in the Château Grimaldi in 1946.

Carved stone head sculptures on white plinths inside the Musée Picasso, Antibes

Carved stone heads in the sunlit galleries of the Musée Picasso, the seafront Château Grimaldi.

 

Large bronze striding male nude sculpture on the Antibes seafront with yachts and mountains behind

A striding bronze nude commands the rampart walk, the yachts of Port Vauban and the Maritime Alps spread out behind.

Ruth seated beneath framed vintage portraits in a Cap d'Antibes lounge with a painted Mediterranean map

Ruth in a Cap d’Antibes salon hung with Jazz-Age portraits — this coast was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s in the 1920s and the setting for ‘Tender Is the Night.’

Silhouette of a striding bronze figure on the Antibes rampart wall against a cloudy sky

One of the seafront bronzes caught in silhouette, frozen mid-stride on the rampart’s edge above the sailboats.

Abstract white marble sculptures resting on rough stone blocks in Antibes

Abstract carved marble forms among rough-cut blocks, open-air art tucked along the old town walls.

Ruth sitting at the base of Jaume Plensa's giant white letter sculpture Nomade in Antibes

The ‘Nomade’ seen from the front — Plensa built the eight-meter figure entirely from steel letters, with Ruth seated for scale.