I will be in Provence early July and was wondering the best places to buy original artwork by local artists. Would the markets at St. Remy and Isle la Sorgue have reasonably priced paintings of the french countryside? Any advice would be appreciated.

We purchased 4 paintings at the market in Gordes last month by an artist named Giselle. Of course, following our impulsive purchase, we were worried about carrying them on the plane - fortunately, they were very relaxed at CDG that day! Hanging above my head right now is my reminder of a fabulous vacation in Provence! Hope this helps...

There are a couple of artists at the market at L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. The Tuesday morning market at Gordes also has an emphasis on arts and crafts, and there are a couple of artists there.

You should also consider visiting some galleries in the Luberon villages. Our favorite is at the top of the village of Bonnieux (Janin/Ruggeri). They have reasonably-priced prints and posters. We just bought their book of Luberon villages-- a wonderful keepsake. See their website here: http://perso.orange.fr/art-provence/index-gb.html

There are a couple other galleries in Bonnieux. If you're interested in pottery, Christine Denniel does beautiful work at her studio/gallery just below the village: http://www.christine-denniel.com/

Many artists base in Roussillon. We like the work of Francoise Valenti: http://www.francoisevalenti.com/ You can spend a lot on a beautiful "investment" painting, or buy a reasonably-priced poster or print like we have.

Kathy

It sounds like you are looking for contemporary paintings of the Provencal countryside. St. Remy is filled with galleries specializing in this kind of thing. Not to sound snobbish, find it all to look very commercial and prefer old paintings at the antiques markets. Like the one at Isle sur la sorgue or Nice on Monday mornings or Aix on Thursday. (There are many others.) Of course, it is more likely you'll find things that are totally unrelated to the Provencal countryside, but in my opinion, they'll be much more special. Older and of higher quality. Just an idea in case you haven't thought of it.

There are artists everywhere selling paintings. Getting one should not be a problem. Try Ave. des Anglais in Nice in the evening. You would be hard pressed not to trip over art. Have fun and bring lots of sunscreen.

Here's a website of a great many contemporary painters in Provence:

http://artistesprovencaux.free.fr/ar.../peintres1.htm

Sorry, the town that I meant to say is filled with galleries is St. Paul de Vence, not St. Remy. However, St. Remy did have at least one large gallery of contemporary art that I remember.

Every year around September 7 is A Festival of painters in St Remy. They line the streets. I didn't purchase a painting but the posters are very pretty. I had two framed. You buy them at the post office.

I had the gallery ship it back to the US via FedEx. It came well packaged without problems, and it kept me from dragging a painting from town to town, hotel to hotel. Well worth the cost.