Paul Cézanne

Paul Cezanne Self-Portrait with Bowler HatIf you want to follow in Paul Cézanne's footsteps, you will find no shortage of places to visit in Aix en Provence. The artist was born here in 1839, and he died here too in 1906, having spent almost all his life in the city.

All the major Cézanne sites are reviewed here. Scroll down to see the key locations around Aix en Provence and click here for our guide to a Cézanne-themed drive or ride around the Mont Sainte Victoire.

Click here to read about L'Estaque, the nearby fishing port which was another of his favourite haunts and subjects; here to read a review of the Musée Granet, the museum in Aix which once refused to accept his work (and now rues the day); and here to read about an offbeat children's thriller inspired by the theft of a painting by Cézanne, who appears briefly in the book as one of the characters.

News about Paul CezanneStand by for 2025, when Aix is planning a huge celebration of its most celebrated artist.

All the main Cézanne sites are involved: his studio at Les Lauves; the monumental Bibémus quarries where he had a cabin and painted many of his visionary views of Mont Sainte Victoire; the Musée Granet, which will be mounting a major exhibition; and the Jas de Bouffan, his family’s villa where Cézanne lived and painted for some 40 years.

Cézanne's studio, currently one of Aix's most popular tourist attractions, will be given a mini-facelift, with a new visitor centre in the garden. The aim is to clear the main house of administrative clutter and recreate the studio itself as Cézanne knew it.

The Jas de Boffan is getting major surgery which should make it the star of the show.

The Jas had become seriously dilapidated and the upper floors were unsafe to visit. When we were last there, only the ground-floor salon was open.

Since then the Jas has been closed completely for extensive restoration work for several years. This project has been held up by the pandemic but is now continuing at pace.

The house itself, including the upper floors and its extensive, beautiful grounds, are being restored and, eventually, a new, modern visitor centre will be added.

Cézanne et Moi (Cézanne and I) is a film shot in Aix and the countryside around Mont Saint Victoire and explores the tense and complex rivalry between Cézanne and one of the greatest writers of the 19th century.

The English subtitled version is now available on DVD and you can order it from Amazon here.

Cézanne and Émile Zola were childhood friends and remained close for decades. But their relationship came under huge strain when Zola achieved fame and wealth for blockbuster novels such as L'Assommoir (1877) and Germinal (1885).

Meanwhile Cézanne had plunged into bold experiments in art that were later hailed as revolutionary. But his genius went unrecognised.

Then in 1886 Zola published a novel, L'Oeuvre (it's called The Work of Art or The Masterpiece in English), about a failed artist who ends by tragically losing confidence in himself.

Cézanne took offence, guessing - probably correctly - that the character was partly based on him. Cézanne et Moi traces the two men's lives and relationship over 40 years.

Cézanne was born in Aix and spent most of his life there, while Zola grew up in the city before moving to Paris in his teens.

cezanne and meAnd many familiar Aix landmarks, such as the place d'Albertas, pictured, and the place de Archevêché have been given makeovers for the film to whisk them back in time to the late 19th century.

Cézanne and I is conceived by the Oscar-nominated writer-director Danièle Thompson. Guillaume Gallienne (Marie Antoinette) is cast as Cézanne while Guillaume Canet (The Beach; Merry Christmas) plays Zola.

Cezanne: A Life by Alex DanchevCézanne: A Life, by Alex Danchev is the first major new biography of the artist for many decades.

The Professor of International Relations at Nottingham University, Danchev is not a traditional art historian and comes at his subject from an unusual angle, partly drawing on the (fictional) work of Cézanne's boyhood friend, the novelist Emile Zola.

His biography has received rave reviews in The Sunday Times, The Spectator and elsewhere as a revealing and sympathetic portrait of a man who has always previously been regarded as prickly, physically awkward and aloof. Find Cézanne: A Life on Amazon.

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Pavement stud on the Paul Cezanne walk in Aix en ProvenceIn a couple of hours you can connect with Paul Cézanne's spirit on a leisurely self-guided walk through the heart of Aix past many of his haunts.

Cupid by Francois Dusqueno in Cezanne's studio at Les LauvesThe studio where Cézanne worked till the end of his life, the Atelier des Lauves is steeped in the artist's personality. It displays his painting materials and personal belongings as if he had just popped out for air.

The front approach to the Jas de BouffanThe Jas de Bouffan is the intensely atmospheric mansion where Paul Cézanne worked, on and off, for 40 years and produced some of his greatest art.

The Bibemus QuarriesHidden in a pine forest high on a sandstone plateau, the brooding Bibémus Quarries are a majestic location and Paul Cézanne mined them for inspiration at the peak of his career.

Study for The Card Players by Paul CezanneYou'll often find them in a provençal bar: players engrossed in a game of cards. And, as with his celebrated cycle on the Mont Sainte Victoire, Cézanne was fascinated by these peasants and returned to them again and again.

jas de bouffan galaLike most artists, Paul Cézanne liked to hang out in the most beautiful spots in town. And in summer his haunts in Aix are more than historic sights: they become the backdrops for some magical social occasions.

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