The light is magical. A late-afternoon sky of Wedgwood blue is peppered with clouds edged in dusky pinks and hints of mauve. Over on the horizon, day meets dusk as streaks of pale yellow. Across the gently sloping vineyard, the vines wear their burnished-gold fall foliage loud and proud.
Birthplace of Paul Cézanne, this part of Provence inspired many of his contemporaries, the most significant of them Gauguin and van Gogh, artists who revelled in the colours and textures, the juxtaposition of rolling fields and craggy outcrops, and most importantly, this ever-changing, miraculous light.
I’m at Château La Coste, a luxury estate just 15 kilometres up the road from Cézanne’s home Aix-en-Provence and an hour’s drive from Arles and the Yellow House where Gauguin and van Gogh lived for a while. Originally a traditional vineyard, in 2002 the land was bought by Irish property magnate and art collector Paddy McKillen, whose passions are self-evident here. The estate now produces renowned biodynamic wines and organic olive oil, and offers a clutch of exceptional dining destinations, including a one-Michelin-star restaurant overseen by the estimable Hélène Darroze.
But even more impressive than the level of hospitality and horticulture here is McKillen’s presentation, hosting, and commissioning of art and architecture. From the moment you drive through the estate gates to be greeted by Damien Hirst’s 23-foot-tall sculpture, Charity, shortly followed by a glimpse of a Louise Bourgeois spider, it’s obvious this place is very special. Revelation after revelation abounds: site-specific art on the property includes works by Richard Serra and Andy Goldsworthy, and architectural features include pavilions by Tadao Ando and Frank Gehry, as well as an art gallery that proved to be the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer’s final project. In the lobby, a model displays a new work by James Turrell to be constructed this year.
What a backdrop for Rolls-Royce’s unveiling of its Ghost Series II. A row of jewel-coloured vehicles sparkling under the Provençal sun is an undeniably impressive sight. Pairing the idea of dedication to craft and artistry, impeccable construction, and custom design details to a landscape that has inspired creativity over centuries makes sense when you are not selling a vehicle as much as an attitude.
A new colour developed for the launch—Mustique Blue—was devised to evoke the feeling of light reflecting off the Caribbean Sea, incorporating glass and mica flakes into the finish to create the shimmer. Exterior design changes are mostly subtle tweaks that enhance and refine: new lighting across the grille and headlights that stretches the full width of the car’s frontage, a tail light configuration inspired by the sleek look employed on electric model Spectre, and chrome embellishments to make the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy mascot appear to float. Inside, an advanced digital system offers custom-coloured dials; a private members app provides remote location, locking, and route planning access; and both connectivity and sound design have been upgraded. Four years in the making, a new interior option, grey-stained ash, brings the shimmer into the cabin. There’s also a bamboo-based fabric option, Duality Twill, that requires 11 miles of thread to complete. Everything, of course, can be tweaked or styled by the in-house bespoke team for a truly one-off model. Series II really is a style upgrade: in terms of pure driving, the mechanics of Ghost remain essentially the same.
A week later, I’m at The National Gallery in London, visiting its major van Gogh exhibition, Poets and Lovers. The show focuses on the artist’s time in the south of France, first at the Yellow House in Arles, then, after his breakdown, his period at the psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. I recognize the colours, the landscape, the light, not simply captured but enhanced and transformed through the filter of his genius.
I’m instantly transported to the view from my patio at Château La Coste—I can feel that late fall sun on my skin, the wonder of watching the light change minute to minute. And more than that, I see the air move with every brush stroke and feel the chill of the wind that surrounded me as I drove through the Provençal countryside and along the seafront road to Marseille, the massive limestone ridges towering above. I may have been driving the Ghost, but there were spirits all around.
Read more from our Spring 2025 issue.
