Jean-Paul Lemieux presented his Côte d’Azur exhibition in 1956 at the Galerie l’Atelier, located at 12 rue Sainte-Anne in Quebec City; it was inaugurated by Gérard Morisset, curator of the Musée de Québec (now the MBNAQ) and a friend of Lemieux.

With this exhibition, Jean-Paul Lemieux transported visitors to the sunny south of France through his 28 paintings, created a year earlier during his stay in Provence. The exhibition received positive reviews, particularly from Claude Picher, a painter and art critic. Picher emphasized the exhibition's originality and especially appreciated that Lemieux had avoided "mere tourist sketches." He also described the exhibited works as "an atmosphere steeped in blues, mauves, and emeralds—a world where color is never fixed, where tones blend into one another." A review in the March 1956 issue of L’Événement-Journal stated: “Mr. Lemieux invites us to dream on the terraces and in the terraced gardens a few miles from Nice or Menton. He has also captured scenes of daily life, from the humble to the summer visitors who come seeking gentle relaxation.”

In this work, Lemieux transports us to Les Sablettes in Menton, an emblematic seaside resort on the Côte d’Azur, located in close proximity to the Principality of Monaco. The artist presents an intimate interior scene depicting his wife at rest, gently touched by the sea breeze flowing through the French doors opening onto the Mediterranean.

1. Vie des arts, March 1956, pages 24-25, excerpt from Guy Robert's Lemieux, page 107.

2. Robert, Guy, Lemieux, page 107.