One cannot visit Aix-en-Provence without visiting the places that shaped the life and works of Paul Cézanne, a native of the Provençal town.
Aix-en-Provence offers the opportunity to visit the places that shaped the painter’s life and works, from his Atelier to the Jas de Bouffan Estate, via the Bibemus Quarries.
Paul Cézanne was a French painter, originally from Aix-en-Provence. Belonging to the Post-Impressionist current, his work laid the foundation for Cubism.
His connection to Aix-en-Provence is still strong, so much so that it is possible to visit the places that shaped the painter’s life and works.
ATELIER DE CÉZANNE
Cézanne worked daily in this atelier from 1902 to 1906, the year of his death. The painter created a dozen works that are now preserved in the world’s most important museums.
The studio has a gift store, regularly hosts temporary exhibitions and organizes cultural and gastronomic gatherings during the season.
CAVES OF BIBEMUS
When Cezanne discovered the site, he found it in a state of neglect: the vegetation had cleared, but the ochre rock retained the shape of man’s work. In the striking architecture of this exceptional nature, the artist gave life between 1895 and 1904 to world-famous works, such as “The Red Rock.”
Still today, in the heart of the Grand Site Sainte-Victoire, the Bibemus quarries reveal all their pictorial majesty through a path built around the shed where the artist stored his works and sometimes slept.
Around Cézanne’s shed, the path laid out in the shade of tall pines will introduce you to the motifs painted by Cézanne, his famous red rocks, the geology of the plateau, and the quarries that produce stones used to build monuments in Aix from ancient times to the 18th century . Cezanne painted 11 oils and 16 watercolors in this landscape where mineral and vegetable complement each other.
All the quarries are part of Cezanne’s sites and can be visited.
JAS DE BOUFFAN PROPERTY
The Jas de Bouffan property, which includes the mansion, historic monuments and park, is open for guided tours to discover what the farm was to the painter: a place to live, an anchor, a place for his early work and a painting studio. Purchased in 1859 by Cezanne’s father, the Jas de Bouffan mansion would remain in the family’s ownership until 1899. For 40 years, Paul Cezanne would find his main sources of inspiration there.
On the ground floor, the young Cézanne painted a dozen murals. He also set up his easel in the park, in front of the house, the farmhouse, the forest and avenue of chestnut groves, the pond and its statues… A total of thirty-six oils and seventeen watercolors were made here between 1859 and 1899.