For such an exhibition, nothing is left to chance. And everything is imagined well in advance. The same goes for the scenography, which Bruno Ely, the curator, had worked on by the specialized company, Studio Matters, experienced in major events. “The Impressionist Decor”, at the Orangerie Museum in 2022, Gaudi at the Orsay Museum, the same year and, already at Granet, “Pharaon Osiris and the Mummy”, between 2020 and 2021, it was this company.
For Cezanne, the scenography will offer a journey that is both chronological and thematic. With, almost from the start, an exceptional room which will recreate the large living room of the bastide of Jas de Bouffan. It was in this room, on the large walls, that the young Cezanne created his first works. These, taken down from the walls, some resold by cutting, were scattered all over the world.
For the exhibition, the Granet museum will recover a good portion of it. They will be positioned as originally. “We were able to have The Four Seasonswhich come from the Petit Palais museum in Paris. And for ten days, we have been certain of having the portrait of Louis-Auguste Cezanne, Paul’s father, who was between the Four Seasons, confides Bruno Ely. The National Gallery in London had to agree not to exhibit this painting during its major retrospective organized for its 200th anniversary!” “The Game of Hide and Seek” after Lancret, or “The Great Bather” will also be there. But undoubtedly not “Christ in Limbo” and “La Madeleine ou la Pain” which a priori will not be loaned by the Musée d’Orsay due to their poor condition.
