M. Liégeard sat on Le Train Bleu in a wonderful state of anticipation. Sitting across from him was Sophia Loren, she was flicking through a photo book by Jacques Henri Lartigue, and each image reminded her of how Le Midi had for so long been a place to get lost in new colours, illuminated so brightly by the hope of the fullness of things. He spoke to Sophia about art and about the warmth of the south, he recalled something that Matisse had once said, something like, what I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter. Life seemed to be like that for those few weeks in Le Midi by the coast……
