Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), often hailed as the “father of modern art,” remains highly sought-after by collectors, whether his works are in oil, watercolor, or pencil. In 2022, his landscape La Montagne Sainte-Victoire fetched US$137 million at Christie’s New York, setting his auction record.
Now, in Cézanne’s hometown of Aix-en-Provence, the Musée Granet is hosting a major exhibition titled Cézanne au Jas de Bouffan, centered around the artist’s family estate. Featuring 130 works including drawings, watercolors, and paintings, the show also opens to the public Cézanne’s restored home and studio, now newly renovated.
The exhibition is open now through 12 October. For those planning a summer trip to the South of France, this is a rare opportunity to experience the very environment in which the great master created his art.
Portrait of the Artist with a Pink Background (circa 1875) | Musée d'Orsay, Paris
The Artist’s Father, Reading "L’Événement" (1866) | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
A Young Man from Southern France, Disillusioned in Paris
Cézanne was born in 1839 in Aix-en-Provence, southern France. His father was a banker, and Cézanne grew up in a well-off household. He began drawing at a young age and was passionate about art, though he ultimately followed his father’s wishes and studied law at the University of Aix, taking art classes only in his spare time. The Musée Granet, hosting the current exhibition, is where Cézanne took those early painting lessons.
In 1861, he finally persuaded his father to let him pursue an artistic career in Paris. Unfortunately, his time in the capital was not easy. He was rejected twice by the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts and ended up studying at the unorthodox and underfunded Académie Suisse.
Cézanne briefly returned to Aix to work at his father’s bank, but he couldn’t let go of his artistic ambitions and went back to Paris, where he met fellow artists Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, and Claude Monet. Among them, Cézanne formed a particularly close mentor-mentee relationship with the older Pissarro.
The Artist’s Father, Reading "L’Événement" at the exhibition
Like many Impressionists, Cézanne’s work was dismissed by the mainstream art world. Though he submitted to the Paris Salon annually, he was only accepted once, in 1882, which was his only official Salon appearance. The rest of the time, his works were shown at Salon des Refusés and the Impressionist exhibitions organized by Monet starting in 1874.
One of the works now on display, The Artist’s Father, Reading “L’Événement”, is the sole piece by Cézanne ever accepted by the Paris Salon.
The Card Players (1893-1896) | Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Rejecting Tradition and Opening the Door to Modernism
Cézanne grew increasingly critical of traditional academic painting, especially the studio-bound nature of the practice. He declared, “All pictures painted inside in the studio will never be as good as the things done outside.”
Even in still life, Cézanne rejected the use of scientific, Renaissance-style linear perspective. He believed that people do not perceive the world through fixed vanishing points but move their heads and bodies to see around objects. To reflect this, he often broke the rules of perspective to show multiple viewpoints at once.
Take, for example, Still Life with Cherries And Peaches, featured in the exhibition. According to scientific perspective, the plate filled with cherries should be tilted, and the fruit would roll off. But Cézanne intentionally flattened the space to show more of the fruit’s surface, enhancing visual information over physical realism.
Still Life with Cherries And Peaches | Los Angeles County Museum of Art
He is also famous for saying: “Treat nature in terms of the cylinder, the sphere, and the cone.” Cézanne believed that viewers first perceive form and contour, not detail. Whether painting portraits or landscapes, he simplified shapes into geometric volumes, reducing the scene into essential visual elements.
Later, Pablo Picasso would take this idea to its extreme, founding Cubism. The Spanish master famously called Cézanne “the father to us all,” adding that he was “my one and only master.”
Mont Sainte-Victoire (1897) | Kunstmuseum Bern
Returning to Aix, Finding Solace in Landscape
Though Cézanne valued artistic camaraderie and often corresponded with other painters, he found Paris too noisy and chaotic. He eventually returned to Aix, where he spent the rest of his life captivated by its natural beauty. He was a firm believer in plein-air painting, venturing out daily with his easel and tools to paint alone in the countryside.
Towering over Aix is Mont Sainte-Victoire, which became one of his most iconic subjects. He painted the mountain dozens of times in both oil and watercolor, yet no two versions are alike. Each varies in viewpoint, lighting, season, color palette, and brushwork.
The Bathers (circa 1899-1904) | The Art Institute of Chicago
La Montagne Sainte-Victoire | Sold: US$137,790,000, Christie’s New York, 2022
In this series, we also see the evolution of Cézanne’s late style. As the years passed, the mountain grew increasingly flattened, fragmented, and abstract, his landscapes moving from representation to simplification. The Post-Impressionist master transformed form into geometric lines of color.
In his final decade, Cézanne’s painting split into two thematic directions. First is the open, expansive scenes, emphasizing freedom and space, as seen in many of his later Sainte-Victoire works. Second is the densely wooded compositions, where only slivers of sky peek through, like in The Bathers (1899–1904).
It’s worth noting that his most expensive painting at auction belongs to the Sainte-Victoire series. In 2022, the 1888–1890 version sold for US$137 million at Christie’s New York during the Paul Allen Collection sale, setting a new record for the artist.
Despised in His Hometown, Shunned by Museums
Cézanne lived for painting, and ultimately died from it. Caught in a sudden rainstorm while working outdoors, he developed pneumonia and passed away. Like Van Gogh and Gauguin, his death was solitary, and it seems solitude was the shared fate of the Post-Impressionist trinity.
Similar to Van Gogh, Cézanne’s work was largely ignored in his lifetime. Even when his paintings appeared at auction, they sold for far less than those by Monet, Manet, or Renoir.
French politician and journalist Henri Rochefort published an article titled Love for the Ugly in his newspaper L’Intransigeant, mocking Cézanne’s art. He described how people laughed out loud upon seeing “an ultra-impressionist” at a sale.
Cézanne’s works being showcased by Musée Granet
People in Aix were so embarrassed by the article that they left copies at Cézanne’s door, and some even demanded that he leave town. Henri Pontier, then director of Musée Granet, famously declared: “As long as I live, no Cézanne will ever enter this museum.”
Even after Cézanne’s death, as his work was embraced by artists like Matisse and Picasso, museums still kept their distance.
Portrait of Zola (1862-1864) | Musée Granet
A Century Later, Cézanne Finally Comes Home
It wasn’t until the 1980s that the museum borrowed Cézanne’s works from Musée d’Orsay for the first time. In 2006, it held its first Cézanne-themed exhibition, and in 2011, it finally acquired its first Cézanne painting, Portrait of Zola. Today, the museum holds 10 works by the artist.
This year, the museum and the Aix city government launched the “Cézanne 2025” campaign to rekindle the town’s connection with its most famous native son and to boost tourism. A major highlight is this exhibition, Cézanne au Jas de Bouffan, which features 130 works from international institutions and private collections, including the record-breaking La Montagne Sainte-Victoire sold in 2022.
Bastide du Jas de Bouffan opens to the public after restoration
Cézanne’s Home and Studio Reopen to the Public
Another key feature of the campaign is the reopening of Cézanne’s family home, now fully restored. The “Jas de Bouffan” in the exhibition’s title refers to the estate on the western outskirts of Aix, Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, purchased by his father in 1859 and sold in 1899.
The estate became one of Cézanne’s subjects. The House in Aix (Jas de Bouffan), on loan from the National Gallery Prague, allows visitors to compare the estate’s past and present. The painting also serves as the exhibition’s promotional image.
The House in Aix (Jas de Bouffan) (1885-1887) | National Gallery Prague
Intriguingly, during the restoration process, workers discovered traces of large mural paintings, believed to have been created by Cézanne himself. In addition to the estate, his late career studio, the Atelier des Lauves, has also been restored and reopened to visitors.
A trip to the South of France now offers an almost complete journey through Cézanne’s creative life. For art lovers, it’s time to book your ticket.
Traces of large mural paintings were discovered during the restoration process
Traces of large mural paintings were discovered during the restoration process
Cézanne au Jas de Bouffan
Date: Now until 12 October 2025
Opening Times: 9 am - 7 pm (except Thursday) | 12 nn to 10 pm (Thursday)
Venue: Musée Granet
Address: Place Saint-Jean de Malte, Aix-en-Provence
Admission: €18 (Full Price); €16 (Reduced) | By reservation only