Collioure

The heart of Matisse Country, this pretty seaside fishing village with a sheltered natural harbor has become a summer magnet for tourists (beware the crowds in July and August). Painters such as Henri Matisse, André Derain, Henri Martin, and Georges Braque—who were dubbed Fauves for their "savage" (fauve means "wild beast") approach to color and form—were among the early discoverers of Collioure. The view they admired remains largely unchanged today: to the north, the rocky Îlot St-Vincent juts out into the sea, a modern lighthouse at its tip, whereas inland the Albères mountain range rises to connect the Pyrénées with the Mediterranean. The town harbor is a painting unto itself, framed by a 12th-century royal castle and a 17th-century church fortified with a tower.

Matisse set up shop in summer of 1905 and was greatly inspired by the colors of the town's terra-cotta roofs. The information center, behind the Plage Boramar, has an excellent map that points out the main sites once favored by the Fauve painters, which have now been organized into a pedestrian trail called the Chemin du Fauvisme (originating at the Espace Fauve at the Quai de l'Amirauté). In the streets behind the Vieux Port you can see former fishermen's stores now occupied by smart boutiques and restaurants. To find tomorrow's Matisses and Derains, head to the streets behind the Place du 18-Juin and to the old quarter of Le Mouré, set under Fort Miradou—the studios here are filled with contemporary artists at work. Today the most prized locales are the café-terraces overlooking the main beach or the fashionable Rue Camillle Pelletan by the harbor, where you can feast on Collioure's tender, practically boneless anchovies and the fine Rivesaltes and other local wines from the impeccably cultivated vineyards surrounding the town. Although nearby villages are apparently only rich in quaintness, Collioure is surprisingly prosperous, thanks to the cultivation of primeurs, early ripe fruit and vegetables, shipped to the markets of northern France.