Admirers of Paul Cézanne‘s work will want to make a pilgrimage to Aix-en-Provence this summer. The southern French city is hosting a series of events under the rubric Cézanne 2025, inviting Cézanne aficionados to visit spots significant to the artist and his oeuvre, as the New York Times reports.
Cézanne was born in Aix and spent much of his life there, within sight of Montagne Sainte-Victoire, a mountain that seems to have fascinated the artist, who painted it more than 80 times. His family’s 18th-century home, Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, and his final workshop, Atelier des Lauves, are opening their doors to visitors, offering an intimate peek at both his boyhood and his last days. Tourists can also learn about Cézanne connections throughout the city with the help of an online audio tour called Sur les pas de Cézanne (“In Cézanne’s Footsteps”). And beginning June 28, the exhibition “Cézanne au Jas de Bouffan,” at the Musée Granet, will display 133 of his works.
Aix hasn’t always been so supportive of the artist’s work. Henri Pontier, curator of the museum that became the Musée Granet, certainly did not hold it in high regard. In 1900, per the Times, he said, “In my lifetime, no Cézanne will enter.” It may have taken more than a century since his passing, but the city’s disdain has clearly swung into full-scale pride.
