The South of France, part 2
Aix-en-Provence
La Fontaine de la Rotonde
,
the hub of the old town
From where we were staying in Paradou with our friends Christina and Chuck, it was an hour's drive south to Aix-en-Provence where Emily and Jos were participating in the annual Music Festival there. Quinn and Zinnie had come along but didn't have much to do all day since their parents were in rehearsals most of the time. They were happy to have us come and provide a little more variety and we were scheduled to drive them back to our house to spend a few days with us while the festival in Aix unfolded.
Aix is a university town and has a young, hip vibe. It is also a major tourist destination, especially during the music festival. The streets were busy with people. Strolling through the back streets was particularly pleasant as Aix has beautiful old neighborhoods and buildings to discover.
The main boulevard, Le Cours Mirabeau is nice, but the back streets are even better
We have been to Aix several times before, but there is always something new to see and enjoy. Our hotel was a few minutes walk from the old town, so that is where we spent most of our time while there.
There were numerous restaurants to choose from, all quite crowded
Unfortunately, we never did get to see the piece that Emily and Jos created with their friends. Emily was also an actor this time, which is unusual. We had intended to go see rehearsals, but that turned out to be impractical.
Emily on stage. They did a short comic piece.
In the evenings Jos and Emily were free so we ate out at various street-side restaurants and enjoyed some time together. They had many friends and associates in town and a full schedule all day long.
Aix is known for its excellent Provencal cuisine
We spent two days in Aix before driving back north.
On one of the days we went to Wes Anderson's newest movie, Asteroid City, with the kids. It was on a very hot afternoon so it was nice to spend the afternoon in an air-conditioned theater on the Cours Mirabeau.
We have a history together of going to Wes Anderson films. In fact one of the last movies we saw together was The French Dispatch in Caen, which was one of my all time favorite movie experiences. For this particular one, however, none of us could quite follow the plot. One critic said that the film seems intended to test the patience of Anderson's fans. i would say that was spot on. I discovered that even Wes Anderson can be a bit too Wes Andersonie.
If you haven't seen this video What if Wes Anderson directed X-Men, now's your chance.
A stroll after dinner back towards our hotel
Aix is sometimes called the city of a thousand fountains. I'm not sure if there are exactly that many or not, but they are plentiful.
Aix-en-Provence is never a back water, for sure, but in July during the music festival it is perhaps a bit too crowded for my taste. In cooler weather, in calmer moments of the year, it is a place I would enjoy spending many days exploring. It has gardens, galleries, wonderful restaurants, beautiful architecture, Roman ruins and is surrounded by stunning provencal countryside where one can hike or stroll, depending upon your ambition.
La Fontaine de la Rotonde
at night
The only thing I really was intent on doing this time, however, was to visit the studio of Paul Cezanne.
Cezanne
Hameau à Payennet près de Gardanne painted by Cezanne in 1886, just south of Aix
Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Paul Signac, Pierre Bonnard, Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso all lived in the south of France during the later parts of their careers. All were inspired by the light and colors they found here. However none of these artists were born or raised in the south. Paul Cezanne, on the other hand, was born and died in Aix-en-Provence, so I think of him as the quintessential southern artist, and it's hard to visit Aix without thinking about him.
His influence on modern art was certainly profound. Matisse called him "the father of us all," while Picasso said he was like "a mother hovering." Father, or mother, he certainly was unique. He explained his own project as seeking to realize a "harmony parallel to nature." He strove to represent nature through basic shapes and this idea was a major influence for cubists as well as more abstract art forms of the twentieth century.
Cezanne, encouraged by his childhood friend, Émile Zola, who also grew up in Aix-en-Provence, moved to Paris when he was twenty-two. But Paris was a disappointment to him and he returned to Aix only four years later. Although he did spend short periods in other locations, Cezanne essentially spent his entire life in Aix.
The town honors him and you can certainly enjoy his art work (which we did on an earlier visit to Aix) at the Musée Granet. There are several locations in the city which are also associated with his life. You can get a map for a walking tour of these at the tourist offices.
In 1902, just five years before his death, Cezanne bought a studio which is maintained exactly as he left it. We made a point of visiting this on our brief stay.
window at Cezanne's studio house
The garden in front is shady and there is a view to one of Cezanne's favorite subjects, Sainte-Victoire, the rocky mountain that is an iconic symbol of Provence. The trees and landscape are all well-known in the work Cezanne left behind, more than 900 oil paintings and 400 watercolors.
Garden in front of the house
When we first drove to the atelier with the kids in the morning to take the tour, we found that the morning tours were all sold out. We had to buy our tickets for the last tour of the day, at five. We got only two, as the kids decided they'd rather spend their afternoon in the hotel swimming pool. So we made the trek here and back to our hotel, twice in the same day.
The studio is located on the second story
The studio is full of the objects that Cezanne habitually used in his still lives. There are drawers you can open which contain letters and drawings. The gray of the walls is the perfect neutral color for a painter, I felt.
Familiar items from the still life paintings of Paul Cezanne
He was 63 years old when he bought this studio, which was a walk uphill from where he lived in the center of town. He went back and forth on foot, or by cart in inclement weather. He also wandered from here out into the countryside to do his plein-air painting. On one day, in 1906, he set out as usual with his easel, box of paints and canvas. An unanticipated storm began to pour down buckets of rain. As Cezanne gathered his things together to rush back to his atelier, he slipped in the mud, fell to the ground and remained unconscious for several hours while the rain continued. Eventually a neighbor happened past and saw him laying there. He gathered him up onto his cart and drove him home, where he lay in his bed for several days before dying at the age of 67.
The atelier was closed up and remained for years just as he had left it on that fateful day. It was owned by his son who sold it to other art enthusiasts and it was kept just as it is now over the decades. The paintings are hung exactly where Cezanne placed them. Even the paint on the walls, reportedly, has not been altered in over one hundred years. The trees in the garden have grown up to cover the views of Mont Sainte-Victoire now but inside, all remains the same.
We felt privileged to have experienced this evocative space.
I found the smock, coats, satchels and hats hanging on their hooks especially poignant