A brush with Cezanne in Aix-en-Provence, France: a blockbuster retrospective comes to town

Paul Cezanne is everywhere in Aix-en-Provence: there are streets named after him as well as a school, a cinema and even a sandwich (a version of traditional pan bagnat but with goat's cheese instead of tuna). And from late June, the whole city will go Cezanne mad, as the painter's atelier, north of the centre, and the family home to the west reopen after an eight-year restoration.
The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
But during Cezanne's lifetime, and for years after his death in 1906, Aix seemed at pains to ignore the artist later called the 'father of modern art'. When his widow, Hortense, offered several paintings to the city's main Musée Granet, director Henri Pontier declared that Cezanne paintings would enter the gallery only over his dead body.
This year, however (with Pontier dead almost a century), Aix is making up for its neglect with a blockbuster exhibition at Musée Granet to accompany the unveiling of Cezanne's studio and the estate bought by the artist's family in 1859. The retrospective will bring together more than 130 works, including still lifes, portraits and landscapes.
The paintings were all made in and around the Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, which was a refuge and inspiration for the painter for 40 years. Cezanne's banker father acquired the 18th-century mansion with its farm and 15 hectares (37 acres) from a bankrupt client. Disappointed that his only son had no interest in finance, he still let young Paul use the ground floor grand salon as a workspace.
By 2017, however, the house had fallen into disrepair and was closed for a long renovation. Its grand opening is on 28 June, but we grab a sneak preview. Though now in an Aix suburb (20 minutes from the centre, or a few minutes on bus no 8), it's a charming place, three serene storeys in five hectares of verdant grounds, its shutters painted in Aix's signature grey-blue.
Inside, projections on the walls of the grand salon recreate the paintings (later chiselled off and sold) young Cezanne made on the walls, including a 'four seasons' fresco. His card players series – one of which set a record in 2011 for the highest price ever paid for a work of art – was painted here, as was an 1866 portrait of Cezanne père reading a newspaper. (The artist and his family never used an accent on the first 'e' of their name: Cézanne seems to have been a later, Parisian invention.)
The family later made a studio for Paul on the second floor, and its tall window, higher than the roofline, can be seen from the front. The kitchen and Madame Cezanne's bedroom can also be visited.
Daily guided tours of the interior (available in English) will cost from €9.50, but if these sell out, a ticket just for the grounds is still rewarding. For many fans, Cezanne's genius lies in his outdoor works, and they come to life in the extensive gardens. There's the chestnut avenue he painted, the farm buildings and, most evocative for me, the square bassin (pond) that features in dozens of pictures. I'm excited to spot the lion and dolphin statues seen in several canvases, the lions with their bums in the air. (The majestic plane trees and orangery were added by later owners.)
After his father died in 1886 and the estate was sold, Cezanne built his atelier in Les Lauves, then a rural area north of Aix, with views to the mountain that had long been his muse, Mont Sainte-Victoire. The 1,000-metre-high limestone ridge can be viewed from many points, including the roof terrace of our hotel, the Escaletto (doubles from €105) on the edge of the old town.
It's a 15-minute walk from here to the atelier, up a road now called Avenue Paul Cézanne. The traditional-style house sits on rising ground, with kitchen and living areas on the ground floor; the first floor is one huge, high-ceilinged studio, with a full-height, north-facing window. This was his last workplace, where he painted the Bathers series, one of which is in London's National Gallery. After further renovations next winter, the lower floor will have displays including the artist's coat, palette and satchel.
If Aix had mixed feelings about its famous son, those seem to have been mutual. Of the 1,000-plus paintings Cezanne left, just one is of the city: a watercolour of the fountain in Place de la Mairie. However, he made hundreds in the countryside around, including over 80 of Mont Sainte-Victoire. So the best way to find Cezanne's Provence is to get out of Aix.
Between the city and the mountain is Bibémus quarry, source of the creamy ochre stone that has built Aix since Roman times. The bus trip there (no 6) is like a ride through a thousand paintings. These wooded hills are all protected, and daily tickets (from the tourist office) include a shuttle from the terminus at Les Trois Bons Dieux. What pictures can't convey is the loud birdsong, southern heat and early summer scents of pine and broom.
Cezanne made 27 paintings here, developing his pre-cubist style and trademark palette of blue, green and ochre. Reproductions of paintings around the quarry show the vantage point from which they were made – and their current homes: this one now in New York, others in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore …
Sign up to The Traveller
Get travel inspiration, featured trips and local tips for your next break, as well as the latest deals from Guardian Holidays
after newsletter promotion
US tourists in Europe may not feel their homeland offers much to be proud of right now, but in Aix they can reflect with satisfaction that it was thanks to US collectors that Cezanne's fame spread and his legacy was preserved. The atelier would have been demolished for housing had a group of US collectors not saved it in 1952. And an American artist, George Bunker, bought the Bibémus quarry in 1954 and left it to the city when he died in 1991, on condition that the land be protected and open to visitors.
Canadian sculptor David Campbell, now in his late 80s, with wizard-like white hair, was a friend of Bunker's and has lived here in a quarryman's cottage for 40 years. We spy him exercising on the edge of the site and he later shows us some of his fluid works in white limestone, plus masterly recreations of medieval masonry.
The Red Rock (c.1895, now in Paris's Musée de l'Orangerie) is one of the best-known Cezanne quarry paintings, and the small post at the bottom left is still there today. But the site calls to my mind another in the National Gallery, with, unusually, a figure in white shirt and blue trousers dwarfed by a wall of orange rock.
Visitors can also book a 6pm visit to Bibémus to enjoy the setting sun on Mont Sainte-Victoire (€17pp) or a half-day electric bike tour from Aix (€90pp including bike hire). The area may close unexpectedly, however, if mistral winds increase the risk of wildfires.
One town the artist did choose to paint is Gardanne, around seven miles from Aix (eight minutes by train). Here, Cezanne tourism is more informal. A plaque on the main street, Cours Forbin, shows where he lived with his wife and son for a productive year in 1885-6.
Nearby Colline des Frères (Brothers' Hill) was an open-air studio for Cezanne, and a free-to-visit walking route includes reproductions of paintings of his favourite mountain, with Gardanne and its bell tower in the foreground. (Power station cooling towers do detract slightly from today's view.) Again, these works are almost all now in the US – one even in the White House. The local tourist office does guided tours (€10, in English) on Fridays in July and August.
There are no hotels in Gardanne, but a self-catering let meant we could make the most of the extensive street market under towering plane trees on Cours Forbin (Weds, Fri and Sun).
I'm pleased to learn that the square blobs on the right of at least two of Cezanne's Gardanne paintings are windmills, which still stand. We climb north up Cativel hill and find three mills, one still with its sails, and the date 1567 over the door. They're on a gorgeous rolling hillside glowing in Cezanne colours, with interlocking shadows of umbrella pines completing the painterly scene.
Aix may be all about Cezanne this year, but closer encounters may well be found off the main tourist trail.
Cezanne at Jas de Bouffan opens 28 June and runs until 12 October at Musée Granet. The trip was provided by Aix-en-Provence tourism

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

BBC News

an hour ago

• BBC News

Droitwich Spa street murals 'bring our town to life'

Streets, buildings and underpasses in a Worcestershire town have been turned into vibrant works of art local children have been involved five murals are at Chawson Pleck Underpass, Camp Furlong Underpass, the Rik Mayall's Comedy Emporium, The Talbot pub, and Union initiative has been funded by Wychavon District Council and the Droitwich Spa Place Board - using money from the district council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.A new piece will also be revealed at Emms Haberdashery this summer. The children contributed to both of the underpass Loves Books, the art at Chawson Pleck, features characters from children's literature enjoying landmarks of Droitwich Spa - inspired by ideas from students at Chawson First Camp Furlong mural, called Positive-Safe-Future, depicts uplifting images and messages with students' designs incorporated into the final artwork. The piece at The Talbot completely covers the side of the building, depicting the town's iconic landmarks and heritage."We take pride in collaborating with the residents of Droitwich Spa, and Droitwich Spa Place Board on this transformative project," said council leader, Richard Morris. "We gained insights and feedback from the local community, and the designs have been crafted which embody our shared vision."Matt Nicol, Chairman of Droitwich Spa Place Board, added: "We can't wait for everyone to experience the stunning art that brings our town to life!""People, memories and stories of our amazing town have inspired each illustration." Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.

The Guardian

2 hours ago

• The Guardian

Photoespaña 2025: colonial legacies, transitional landscapes and chance encounters

PhotoEspaña, Spain's premier festival of photography, has opened in Madrid and other locations across the country including Barcelona, Santander and Zaragoza. The capital is hosting more than 80 contemporary and historical exhibitions in a range of venues that include the grounds of the Royal Palace, the Prado, a former water tower and an old sawmill. Top left: Adelita: She Was Not Only Brave She Was Beautiful, 2023. Top right: Adelita: I Would Follow Her by Ground and Sea, 2023. Above: Toward a History of African American Women on New Spain's Far Northern Frontier, 2023. Photographs: Ayana V Jackson/Mariane Ibrahim. Nosce te Ipsum (Know Thyself) at the National Museum of Anthropology showcases the work of the African American photographer and film-maker Ayana V Jackson, whose practice involves the creative use of archival documents and items for her artistic production. In this, her first exhibition in Europe, the ironic referencing or quoting of existing imagery, for example her re-stagings of portraits of 19th-century Black horsewomen in the series You Forgot to See Me Coming, enable her to imaginatively address the representational legacies of colonialism and the Black diaspora. Her portraits of Adelitas – the name derives from that of Adela Velarde, the famed nurse of the Mexican revolution – engage with the often overlooked activities of African-descendant women during the uprising. Journalists Gathered in Search of Information During a Closed-Door Meeting of the UCD Political Council. Madrid, 1982. Photograph: Marisa Flórez. Five decades of pictures by the Spanish photojournalist Marisa Flórez are celebrated in the austere confines of Sala Canal de Isabel II. A veteran of the Informaciones and El País newspapers, her work comprises a fascinating chronicle, spanning politics, showbusiness, art and culture, of the initially male-dominated spaces of the post-Franco years. Flórez was on hand to cover the implementation of the country's new constitution; she saw the motorcade return to Spain of Pablo Picasso's exiled Guernica; she covered the terrorist attacks of the Eta years; and she documented the growth in newly permissible street demonstrations. She even photographed Margaret Thatcher opening a Marks & Spencer store. More broadly, Flórez's pictures, and indeed her own presence in the newsroom, testified to a cultural shift within the nation. 'What happened during this period of time: we had the incorporation of women in every sphere – because women before that were limited to the home,' she said. 'There was a mother, a daughter, a wife, and nothing more. Finally, we had not only women in the army, but everywhere else.' Women in Yeserías Prison, Madrid 1981. Photograph: Marisa Flórez. A survey of landscape photography by the Granada-born artist José Guerrero at Fundación Mapfre reveals his nuanced and studied investigation of the sociopolitical or, more recently, formal possibilities of the genre. In many of his early series he appears interested in landscapes that might display evidence of change and transition. Elsewhere, he is drawn to iconic territories or spaces, 'places that we recognise through other references, pictorial, also photographic, or cinematographic'. He said: 'So I've worked in the American US with some references to western movies. I've worked in La Mancha, I've worked on the River Thames.' House and Pool, Jaén, 2007, from the series Andalucía. Photograph: José Guerrero/VEGAP. During visits to Mexico in 2017-18, Guerrero took pictures inspired by the architecture of Luis Barragán. In the subsequent BRG series he undertook to recreate aspects of those pictures by photographing his own specially constructed, naturally lit models, thereby introducing to his practice questions of veracity, scale and trompe l'œil. Left: Barragán 01, 2018. Right: BRG-067, 2022. Photographs: José Guerrero/VegaP. In 1966, the American photographer Joel Meyerowitz embarked on a year-long European road trip, visiting 10 countries, travelling 1,900 miles (30,000km) and taking about 25,000 pictures. An expansive exhibition at Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa presents the results, with particular reference to the time spent in Spain, especially the six months he stayed in Málaga. Top: Málaga, Spain, 1967. Above, clockwise from top left: Málaga, Spain, 1967; E87, near Trikala, Greece, 1967; Paris, 1967; Wales, 1966. Photographs: Joel Meyerowitz. Though he was already familiar with the photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank, and the street pictures of Tony Ray-Jones and Garry Winogrand, Meyerowitz was to credit his European trip as vital to his understanding of the medium and his ability to respond to its demands. 'I saw photography as a chance medium, in which you never know what's going to happen next, and what's going to interest you,' he said. 'When something totally unexpected reveals itself in front of you, it happens precisely because you are there, ready to recognise it. I think my year in Europe offered me the opportunity to realise how important it is, in photography, to be present.' Top: Friend of El Friki and Pink Wall. Photograph: Felipe Romero Beltrán. Middle: One Mile of Crosses on the Pavement, 1979. Art action opposite La Moneda Palace, Santiago de Chile, 1979. Photograph: Lotty Rosenfeld Foundation. Above left: Las Horas del Sol by Bleda y Rosa at the Campo del Moro Gardens. Above right: Work by Bernd and Hilla Becher on display at Serrería Belga. There is much else besides. Bravo, Felipe Romero Beltrán's study of life, and waiting, at the border between Mexico and the US, employs a compellingly poetic form of documentary. By Pass celebrates the interventions and political activism of Lotty Rosenfeld, a central figure in Chilean video art of the 1980s. Las Horas del Sol (The Hours of the Sun), a project by the duo Bleda y Rosa, is installed with aplomb in the Royal Collections Gallery and Campo del Moro gardens. And a potted overview of German documentary practice, including work by Bernd and Hilla Becher, Thomas Struth, Candida Höfer, Andreas Gursky and Axel Hütte is displayed in the suitably utilitarian Serrería Belga. Magritte at His Easel, 1965. Photograph: Duane Michals/Admira Milano. Not least, a retrospective of Duane Michals' photography attempts to do justice to his commitment to picture the invisible. The titles of his pictures, or more often sequences, give a flavour of his aims: Grandpa Goes to Heaven; The Spirit Leaves the Body; The Young Girl's Dream; The Bogeyman. Given his ambitions, it is not altogether surprising that his astute portraits of altogether more visible sitters – Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and René Magritte among them – threaten to steal the show. Guy Lane travelled as a guest of PhotoEspaña.

Times

6 hours ago

• Times

Inside Coco Chanel's Riviera holiday hideaway

T he year is 1938 and Salvador Dalí is in full artistic flow, painting on the balcony of the west wing of Coco Chanel's villa La Pausa, where the shadow-eliminating north light is best. In the evening he would roll back the salon rugs and beckon guests to dance while the renowned pianist Misia Sert played, before retiring to the guesthouse with his wife, Gala. In total he completed 11 paintings at La Pausa, one time staying there for four months. 'The vibe was chilled, guests could do as they pleased,' says Yana Peel, Chanel's president of arts, culture and heritage. For the likes of Dalí, Jean Cocteau and Igor Stravinsky there were no schedules; Chanel herself rarely emerged until 1pm, and there was no dress code — the designer found comfort in stripy tops, wool trousers and cork-soled espadrilles. Meals were served buffet style (platters of pasta, French potatoes and roast beef), and staff appeared frequently to replenish champagne and pour fine wine. There were Easter parties, masked balls and tennis tournaments, views of a glittering Mediterranean sea under an enormous sky.