In the footsteps of Cezanne in Aix-en-Provence: the Sainte-Victoire mountain

On the occasion of the event exhibition organized at the Granet Museum until October 12. Meanwhile, we chose to train you in the footsteps of Paul Cezanne with a series of articles devoted to the illustrious Provençal painter. For example,

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An exceptional painting will return to France as part of the Cezanne 2025 exhibition. Consequently, from June 28 to footsteps cezanne aix-en-provence: sainte-victoire mountain October 12 at the Aix-en-Provence Museum. Meanwhile, It is an oil on canvas entitled The Sainte-Victoire Mountain which was found in the Gurlitt collection. Meanwhile, formed under the Third Reich in Germany.

Coming from Kunstmuseum. Similarly, the Museum of Fine Arts in Bern in Switzerland, this landscape painted in 1897 from the careers of Bibémus is one of the most iconic works of Paul Cezanne. Nevertheless, He should remain at least three years in Aix-en-Provence, during the renovation work of the Swiss Museum. Consequently, An agreement has been made with the heirs of Cezanne which will allow this table then returns to regular. For example, deadlines in Provence.

A second treasure, another “Sainte-Victoire”, was also to be presented to the Aix public. In addition, But a few weeks before the opening of the exhibition. Moreover, the collector, a “US private lender“, According to Bruno Ely, the director of the Granet museum, has withdrawn”For personal convenience“.

He thinks that this decision could be linked “to a question of customs duties“Following Donald Trump’s announcements. Consequently, The table was”in a frank port in Europe“and the collector”wanted to quickly repatriate his collection in the United States“.. Consequently, He never footsteps cezanne aix-en-provence: sainte-victoire mountain had the end of the story. Therefore, but strongly regrets this decision which deprives the exhibition of a major work.

Sainte-Victoire is a natural monument. A magical mountain that culminates at 1,011 meters and dominates the whole Aix country of its sculptural silhouette. She attracts the eye like a magnet and dresses with fluctuating colors, parant with rose on summer evenings.

For Paul Cezanne, born in Aix-en-Provence in 1839, his tutelary presence had fundamental importance. From his 20 years to his last brush strokes. the Provençal painter began to translate the temperament on his paintings – a word which he liked – of this elusive monolith.

Cezanne is a great walker. As of adolescence, summer and winter, he walks with his class boyfriend Émile Zola les Garrigues around Sainte-Victoire. According to art historian John Rewald. “Their favorite promenade is the one that leads to the village of Tholonet by a road which waves between hills to the red lands which extend at the foot of the immense gray and naked wall of the Sainte-Victoire mountain … “. In 1868. in a letter to his friend Numa Coste, He writes: “The beautiful expedition that we had to make to Sainte-Victoire fell into the water this summer because of the too great heat, and in October because footsteps cezanne aix-en-provence: sainte-victoire mountain of the rains.”

By the legs. by the feet, the painter experienced, his life during, the beauty of his native country dominated by this massif with any other the same. “”This rooting remains a specificity in the history of art “. explains Denis Coutagne, former director of the Granet museum and great specialist in Cezanne. Thanks to a geologist friend. Fortuné Marion, the artist also knew the history of the formation of Sainte-Victoire, this great petrified wave.

The painter dedicated nothing less than 87 paintings [connus] At its limestone muse: 44 oils. 43 watercolors, with a preference for its west facade. They are currently exhibited in the largest museums in the world, mostly abroad.

The mountain first appears in the background of its paintings, as if it intimidated it. The first time in 1870, behind a trench dug for building a railway line. In 1885, behind the chestnut trees of footsteps cezanne aix-en-provence: sainte-victoire mountain Jas de Bouffan, the family property of Cezanne. It is also found in the background of several works representing bathers.

Then, the painter gets closer, tames him and ends up placing her in the center of his paintings. This “dizzying pattern“, As he wrote, obsessed him by his structure and his density. He wants to grasp it in all his nuances and make his truth as he perceives it. With his shadows and his versatile lights, the mountain resists him. It is a permanent challenge.

“Cézanne fought with the mountain to appropriate it. discover each facet, each colorful variation and it is these fluctuations that he tried to synthesize and integrate into his painting“Explains Bruno Ely, director of the Granet museum, in Aix-en-Provence.

Cezanne develops her own vision of art. He structures his canvases with simple shapes and skillfully combined colors. The Sainte-Victoire, which draws a large triangle on the horizon, helps footsteps cezanne aix-en-provence: sainte-victoire mountain it in its quest. By observing it, the painter manages to capture the essence of the landscape.

Just realize it of visu of Climb to the garden of painters in Aix-en-Provence. In addition to a breathtaking view. the site has the reproductions of a dozen paintings painted by Cezanne since this eminence dominating the plain and the triangular pediment of Sainte-Victoire.

Until her death in 1906. Cezanne did not let go of the eyes or brush, tirelessly repeating the views of the mountain in a tangle of horizontal, oblique and vertical lines, majestic pines and dry herbs.

His style is more and more economical. The linear drawing disappears. The painter makes depth. shapes by colors, juxtaposing in precise touches the hot tones that bring the view closer, and colder tones that distance him. It simplifies forms. What he once drew with precision becomes suggested.

In doing so, the Aixois revolutionizes painting and prefigures abstract art. “”He was our father to all“, will confide Picasso. When the Spanish master acquires the castle of Vauvenargues. surrounded by a large estate with a footsteps cezanne aix-en-provence: sainte-victoire mountain view of the massif, he declares:”I bought the Sainte-Victoire de Cezanne“Both rest in Provence, not far from the magic mountain.