“When I was in Aix, it seemed to me that I would be somewhere else. Now that I am here, I miss Aix. When you are born there, it’s ruined, nothing tells you anymore.” These words from Paul Cezanne were recalled by Sophie Joissains, this Monday, November 25, at the opening of the presentation of one of the flagship cultural events of the year 2025.
“Cezanne 2025”, in Aix, will be a major exhibition at the Granet museum with, in total, 130 works by the Aix master gathered in one place. All the biggest institutions, from the Musée d’Orsay to the MoMa or the Met in New York, including the Narodni Gallery in Prague or the Hiroshima Art Museum in Japan, have agreed to lend paintings which are now enter in “the common thread underlying the exhibition and this common thread is Cezanne at home“, explains the mayor of Aix.
Paul Cezanne always remained attached to his good city of Aix, even during his stays in Paris. It was in the family bastide of Jas de Bouffan, purchased by his father in 1859, that he embarked on his career as a painter.
“Le Jas de Bouffan is Cezanne’s home port”
Here, in the park with its avenue of chestnut trees, its pond, or its view of Sainte-Victoire, he produced, over 40 years, 36 oils and 17 watercolors. And as part of this Cezanne year, the City has launched the renovation of the bastide, which will be reopened to the public in parallel with the launch of the exhibition at the Granet museum, on June 28.
“Jas de Bouffan is Cezanne’s home base, the anchor point of his life and work for 40 years“, specifies Bruno Ely, chief curator of the Granet museum and general curator of next summer’s exhibition. The Lauves workshop, too, will be rehabilitated, like the paths in the Bibémus quarries (see also box) Thus, the public, beyond the large exhibition, will be able to discover the living spaces, right down to the motifs painted by the artist.
