I wrote about my time in Aix en Provence, but now it’s time to tell you about a famous artist who spent most of his life there, and to give you a look at a museum that holds some of his paintings. But, I’ll go a little farther than that, with one of Cézanne’s most famous paintings, which taps into his art and a strong difference between Europe and America, that twists into morals and customs. What if men and women in middle America decided to take a swim, when an artist comes by.

 

“If you don’t mind, take off those clothes. I’d like to paint you while you slosh around in the nude. No worries, I’m an artist.”

 

“Pervert!” Followed by sirens and a night in a chilly cell.

 

Puritanism stuck like glue across the Atlantic, but faded away long ago in Europe.  In Europe, swimming in the nude is not sex.  But in America any nudity is sex. Ok, you’ll say, there are nude beaches in America. Have you been there? Me neither.  Rare in the U.S.A. In Europe it’s normal to go at least partially naked on most beaches, and you'll get a surprise when you step into a spa. Why should I mention it? Cézanne is why. He said it well: “Art is a harmony parallel with nature.”

 

Like it or not, we are a part of nature. Now that you have a taste for European art and artists and are suddenly thinking about dips in a pool a group, let’s wander on to the Musée Granet and more art by Paul Cézanne.

 

 

The rather small museum, in the center of old town, is next to Eglise Saint-Jean-de-Malte. The museum was once a part of the church, but no longer. And it holds much more than Cézanne’s art, all of it interesting and dating back to the 1700s.

 

Costs about 8 bucks to enter, but worth it. I went twice. I’m one of those who dally and ponder. I like art! Especially art known as impressionism.  Yes, Cézanne was part of the first Impressionist exhibition, held in Paris in April 1874, featured 30 artists, including core members Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Paul Cézanne, and Alfred Sisley. The artists held an independent exhibition to defy the traditional, state-run Salon, that wanted nothing to do with them. 

 

A French art critic, Louis Leroy coined the name Impressionism as sarcasm, saying the paintings were just impressions, not finished works. What is it about art that brings out voices of resistance? Guess it’s just human. Hey, we’re all critics. As if we really know or understand art or artists. I do my best to stifle my inner critic, and did pretty well with this museum and especially Cézanne. His work is easy to like. It draws you in.

 

Seeing Cézanne’s paintings, from his early to his later work, you’ll find a progression, and begin to understand why Leroy wrote what he did. All things new, and especially art, are difficult to work their way into the 'what-the-hell-is-that" mind. 

 

Interesting that Impressionism took only a relatively short time to become cherished art. By the 1920s many new artists settled in Paris and followed in the footsteps of the Impressionists and took even more different artistic directions.

 

But back to Cézanne!

 

The painter himself walked a strange road, depending on his father, a banker, who insisted his son become a banker. Cézanne did his best, but artist in the bank didn’t last. Finally, his father tossed in the cash and allowed his artist son to go to Paris, where he painted alongside a host of wonderful Impressionist artists, leading to the Impressionist exhibition.

 

But Paris didn’t last all too long either, although he would go back and forth. But fairly soon Cézanne was drawn back to Aix en Provence to settle and stay. Not a sad story. His father came recognized his son’s art and skill.

 

Like all true artists, Cézanne, lived to paint, not caring if others liked his work or not. On the other side, he was also his own toughest critic, often tossing away what he thought was not good enough, or what was on the canvas just didn’t work to suit him. In one case, he had an important person pose for him every day for weeks, only to decide, sorry, “I can get it right.”

 

With the paintings in the museum, you can see the development of his art from beautiful, but conventional into more unconventional.  The more I looked, the more I became enchanted by the curves of his art, and how the young artist blossomed into the artist he became.

 

Now let’s look at some more art!

Another of his earlier painting

Note the intensity in the eyes.