The Marseillaise : When Paul Cézanne died in 1906, your grandfather said : « Since the people of Aix don't like my father, I don't like them either. I will never come back. » How do you explain the incomprehension, even the contempt, that the painter suffered in his own city ?
Philippe Cezanne : His artistic creation did not only shock the people of Aix. This was also true in Paris. Henri Pontier, who was one of the curators of the Granet Museum, said: “ Me alive, none of his paintings will enter the museum. » All this shocked Paul Cézanne fils.
Why Cézanne's genius was not recognized in France, although it could be praised abroad ?
P.C. : The beginning of Cézanne's recognition was during his lifetime when the gallerist Ambroise Vollard organized a large exhibition in 1895 on his premises, where all his impressionist friends came. It was the beginning of purchases by foreigners and some French amateurs.
Cézanne's temperament,
which oscillated between pride and depression », he participated in deepening the misunderstanding with his contemporaries ?
P.C. : It's possible. But when you look at his life, all of his childhood friends accepted his mood swings. They still remained friends until the end. Part of the Aix bourgeoisie did not like him very much. But the mistrust he suffered can be generalized to France. A country that has always been quite retrograde. Look at the case of his Impressionist friends like Monet, Renoir, Pissarro: they were recognized in the United States and elsewhere before being recognized here.
The year Cézanne 2025 resonates for you as revenge, or rather as the culmination of work ?
P.C. : It's not revenge at all. This happened little by little, largely thanks to the curator Denis Coutagne [directeur du Musée Granet entre 1980 et 2008, Ndlr.]. He did everything to give Cézanne more prominence in Aix and held many exhibitions, including a famous one in 2006. From there, things took off.
According to Granet’s chief curator, Bruno Ely, the year Cézanne 2025 “ is part of a long reconquest of Cézanne's presence in Aix »…
P.C. : Quite. Cézanne's painting is not necessarily easy to understand for amateurs. Even a person like André Malraux did not like Cézanne. And above all, he didn't like Bathers. This is how he let one of Cézanne's masterpieces go, the last one to be in France: one of the three versions of Great bathers.
In fact, it was the intelligentsia who had little taste for Cézanne ?
P.C. : I was the close assistant of Charles Durand-Ruel, the grandson of Paul Durand-Ruel who was the impressionists' dealer. When we met, before he decided to hire me, he said to me: “ Sorry but I'm not a Cézanne fanatic. » There is a whole section of amateurs who have difficulty getting into the Cézannian path.
How would you describe the genius of Cézanne to someone who has never heard of him ?
P.C. : Cézanne has a double life. Contrary to what one might believe, he spent as much time in Paris as in Aix. In Paris he learned his lessons by copying at the Louvre Museum, talking with his Impressionist friends, many with Pissarro who taught him to lighten his palette. He also had great passions like geology. He had the Sainte-Victoire mountain in front of him which, from a geological point of view, is fascinating. An architecture that completely matched his temperament. In addition, Cézanne had fun breaking the codes. Instead of having lines of flight in his landscapes, he closes the background, but at the same time, finds a detail to give the impression of escape. In his still lifes, too.
One of the big highlights of Cézanne 2025 coincides with the restoration of the Jas de Bouffan bastide town. How its opening to the public will allow us to better understand his work ?
P.C. : This bastide represents 40 years of his life as a man and artist. From the compositions that he painted directly on the walls of the large living room that people will be able to see in another way, to the park, where it is planned to point out where Cézanne had placed his easel. This entire part of the estate was a large open-air workshop. For Aix, Cézanne is a very special case because there are no other places so marked by a painter. In addition to Jas de Bouffan, there is still the Lauves workshop. Above the workshop, you have the Chemin de la Marguerite where he painted his last series of Sainte-Victoire, the Carrières de Bibémus… Aix is incredibly lucky to have Cézanne.
A chance that took her a while to seize…
P.C. : Absolutely, but she ended up doing it over time. The 2006 exhibition welcomed a lot of people from Aix. People were passionate. Because they were finally able to penetrate the painter's imagination.
She has set the bar so high that the one that the Granet Museum will host from June 28 arouses a lot of expectations…
P.C. : The upcoming exhibition will be at least as important as the one in 2006. In addition, I have just learned that we will have a painting which is a superb view of the Sainte-Victoire taken from Bibémus. It now belongs to the Bern Museum. Before, it was owned by a man who was the son of a merchant close to the IIIe Reich. This painting, which belonged to my family, disappeared and it was found. The story was suspicious and there is now a sort of shared custody between the Bern Museum and the Granet Museum. I signed a contract to this effect and I now know that this painting will be presented in the exhibition.
Related News :