Sample Syllabus: Art & Art de Vivre in Montpellier
What does a week of learning, exploring, and connecting in Southern France actually look like?
Below is the full syllabus* for Art & Art de Vivre in Montpellier, led by Dr. Armelle Cassanas. Armelle holds a PhD in sociolinguistics, and her background in language and meaning shapes the way she guides participants to observe, question, and connect across disciplines. She’s also deeply connected to Montpellier’s thriving arts community.
This course explores how art de vivre in southern France has been shaped by centuries of artistic expression. Montpellier itself, layered with visible traces from each of these periods, becomes both the subject and the setting for inquiry.
⛲ Day 1: Montpellier in Layers
We explore how architectural styles—medieval, Haussmannian, and postmodern—coexist within the city, and how these layers express evolving notions of beauty, civic identity, and daily life. The day ends in Antigone, a neoclassical district that redefined Montpellier’s urban character in the 1980s.
Self-Guided Study Suggestions:
Contemporary architectural works outside the city center
L’Arbre Blanc (Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné & Manal Rachdi)
Le Nuage (Philippe Starck)
Pierres Vives (Zaha Hadid)
Le Cube de Verre (Jean Nouvel)
Discussion Questions:
How do diverse architectural styles coexist in Montpellier? Note a juxtaposition that you find particularly interesting—is it harmonious or disconcerting?
What impact does this have on daily life and the regional art de vivre?
Can architectural aesthetics and innovation shape social behavior or identity?
Compare with Roman domestic life preserved in Pompeii and Herculaneum: the balance between monumental grandeur and intimate sensuality.
🥕 Day 2: Flânerie & the Art of the Southern Market
Starting in a château garden and continuing through a historic open-air market, we examine how Southern values—slowness, sensuality, and ritual—are expressed through the everyday act of food gathering. Flânerie, the French tradition of slow, intentional wandering, serves as a framework for exploring how attention and aesthetic pleasure shape public life.
Self-Guided Study Suggestions:
Visit Les Halles Castellane (covered daily market) to compare pace, products, and atmosphere
Jardin des Plantes: explore the medicinal and culinary herb garden as an expression of Occitan values
Picnic with market items in a local park (Esplanade, château grounds, etc.)
Discussion Questions:
What makes Southern French people so dedicated to slowly strolling through open-air markets?
What values and sensory experiences does this practice reflect?
Where else do you see people practicing la flânerie?
🏛 Day 3: Classical Heritage & Restoration at the Château
Inside Château de la Piscine—the privately owned château where the cohort stays during the course—we turn our attention to classical aesthetics and cultural memory. A seminar with the château’s owner and restoration team opens a discussion on what it means to preserve beauty, and how the ideals of the past continue to resonate—or clash—with contemporary values.
Self-Guided Study Suggestions:
Musée Fabre: explore the classical collection and works by local impressionist Frédéric Bazille
Hôtel de Cabrières-Sabatier d’Espeyran: an intimate look at aristocratic interiors and furnishings
Discussion Questions:
How did Roman mythology and the Italian “école” shape European aesthetics from the Renaissance through the 18th century?
What does it bring to daily life to be surrounded by this form of art? What did it bring then, and now?
What representations of the world, what forms of beauty, are embedded in this style?
What else do you see in Montpellier that echoes this period?
⚫ Day 4: Outrenoir and the Perception of Seeing
At the Musée Fabre, we study the abstract work of Pierre Soulages, who coined the term outrenoir (“beyond black”). This Field Seminar focuses on how Soulages interrogated the relationship between physiological sight and philosophical perception—and invites comparison with how artists from other eras have engaged with similar questions.
Self-Guided Study Suggestions:
La Panacée: a contemporary art space in Montpellier’s former pharmacy school
MOCO (Montpellier Contemporain): a leading institution for cutting-edge exhibitions
Discussion Questions:
Soulages and Frédéric Bazille share an interest in how we see versus how we perceive. How do we describe the link between these two processes?
How does Soulages function as a symbolic bridge between impressionist painters and contemporary movements?
How do the city’s museums foster a dialogue between contemporary art and historical space?
🎨 Day 5: Contemporary Creation in Practice
We visit the studio of a practicing artist as well as the FRAC Occitanie (Regional Fund for Contemporary Art), a public institution dedicated to collecting and showcasing contemporary art. This session looks at how art is created, sustained, and supported within the context of Southern cultural identity today.
Self-Guided Study Suggestions:
Revisit any galleries or collections that resonated with you
Explore artist-run spaces and smaller boutiques across the city
Discussion Questions:
What does it mean to live and work as a contemporary artist in a city like Montpellier?
How are artists supported by institutions—city, region, state?
What challenges and freedoms do they face?
How does Southern identity—sun, slowness, intimacy, social life—influence artistic creation?
*This is the planned syllabus for the September 2025 session of Art & Art de Vivre in Montpellier. The sequence of days and specific details may shift slightly based on scheduling or instructor discretion, and the course will continue to evolve from session to session.