Surround yourself with Matisse's art in Nice chapel, Yazzy's at www.williamverdult.com

How often do you get the chance to step inside a work of art? It's possible near Nice on the Côte d'Azur on the Mediterranean.

Henri Matisse's Chapelle du Rosaire is "a work filled with exuberance and brilliant color," as described by international art lecturer Olivier Bernier.

Nice itself is full of art opportunities and just outside, in and around Vence (less than 10 miles from Nice), you can see the chapel as well as the medieval village of Saint-Paul de Vence (full of galleries) and a stunning collection of 20th-century art.

By the late 1930s, Matisse had moved to the south of France, attracted by the beautiful light and the villages. In 1941, Matisse was operated on for colon cancer. His nurse later became a nun, and when he went to see her in the late 1940s and asked her what she needed, she said, "a chapel."

Matisse became "passionately interested" in the Chapel of the Rosary project, says Bernier. He designed everything: the vestments, the crucifix, the altar, the roof. Because light and color were so important to him, he wanted to use them in a new way.

Even on the outside, you recognize Matisse's simple blue lines on the white building. Inside, the chapel is smaller than you might expect, but more breathtaking in its intensity -- all-white high walls. They reflect the two windows of stained glass of azure blue, turquoise green and lemon yellow.

When the sun is out, the colors of the windows reflect on the white walls. What photos cannot seem to capture is the intensity of the color. Art aficionados will see a familiar form in the windows: Matisse's tropical leaf, a favorite motif.

On the wall near the altar, which is set at an angle, there is a simple figure of St. Dominic. Other walls display the stations of the cross. The simplicity is stunning.

"Matisse spent his entire life taking away. Less is more," and this is proof positive, says Bernier.

In the rooms outside the chapel are renderings from Matisse's studies and ideas for the chapel -- with different colors and tones that are equally stunning.

Be warned, the chapel is open only four days a week, and long lines form in the summer.

In Saint-Paul de Vence, a 10--minute drive away, you'll find a medieval town perched on a hill with walls still intact. The town is crammed with shops and galleries.

There's the Colombe d'Or, the restaurant where the owner traded food for art. You'll find donated works by Joan Miró, Marc Chagall and Pierre Bonnard.

Then there's the square where actress Simone Signoret and actor Yves Montand hung out, a 16th-century gate and an even older 14th-century arch. The tiny cemetery at the end of the town contains Chagall's grave.

La Fondation Maeght on the hill above the town was founded by art dealers. In summer, the permanent collection of 20th-century art is often stored and replaced with special exhibits.

You enter via a sculpture garden beyond comparison: Mirós scattered all over the place, along with pieces by Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Jean Arp. On the back patio, an entire courtyard of works by Alberto Giacometti.

In the old city of Nice, there is no shortage of art: You can find Roman ruins, the Matisse Museum, the beautiful waterfront and, of course, the beach.