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Discover Cezanne Tour in Aix region

From the Aix en Provence Tourist Office ( 1) head towards the direction of the Family Property of Jas de Bouffan ( 2). This Cézanne site par excellence belonged to his family for some 40 years and is the heart of the Provence which the painter so loved. Cézanne produced 41 paintings, 15 water colours and 17 drawings here. (see "Cézanne Itineraries" by M. Bourges). Then return to the Rotonde fountain and take the ring road until you reach a turning marked "Route de Cezanne". Cézanne took this little winding road, with its sharply contrasting colours, almost every day. After a sharp bend offering a clear view of the Sainte-Victoire mountain, on the left, a stone slab ( 3) reminds us of the landscape painted by Cézanne.

300 metres further on, on the same side, stands the "Château Noir" (Black Castle), a large 19th century building steeped in legend. The reality is much more mundane: the owner made animal black (a black pigment obtained by burning bones in a closed cup), which he used to coat the outside walls.
But the paint was not rain resistant and the stone walls of Bibémus returned to their original colour ( 4). Cézanne rented 2 rooms here to store his materials and to be near the landscape motifs which fascinated him. He was interested in the density of shapes, the rich colours and the geometric shapes of the Bibémus and Sainte-Victoire quarries that stood at the horizon of his paintings like an end towards which everything converges.

The Château du Tholonet ( 5) is the starting point for visiting the dam built in 1854 by Zola (Emile Zola’s father) and the Roman aqueduct behind the castle, built to supply the town Aquae Sextiae with water. The D17 passes in front of the "Relais Cezanne" café where time seems to have stopped, suspended in the song of the cicadas. Paul Cézanne very often lunched here, alone or with friends, and even carved a picture on one of the tables. At the exit of the village, at the foot of the mill, one of Cézanne’s favourite places, a stone slab ( 6) bearing his effigy was erected in 1939 by Le Tholonet mayor Hilaire Houchart, to commemorate the centenary of the painter's birth.

At the crossroads to the Beaurecueil Road ( 7) the plains and mountains are captured in a breathless, motionless image. Cézanne used light and colour to reproduce this synthesis between volume and space in his paintings.

3.5 km further on you reach St-Antonin ( 8), an imposing landscape dominated by the great limestone wall of the mountain, a huge geological formation stretching from west to east.
From Saint-Antonin, you travel along the D 17, which is overlooked by magnificent mountains, to reach the village of Puyloubier. Follow the D 57 in the direction of Trets and then the N7. After 2km bear right onto the D 56 C in the direction of Rousset. Then following the D56 in the direction of Peynier, continue straight on until the junction marked Gardanne, which is then reached on the D6.

To complete your Cézanne "pilgrimage," visit the village of Gardanne where he stayed for 15 months from August 1885 to October 1886, at 27 Cours Forbin ( 9) at the foot of the Cativel hill. In one of the painter’s favourite places, "La Colline des Frères" (the brothers' hill), an open air museum has been opened retracing this period and showing, on slabs of enamelled lava, reproductions of the works he painted in Gardanne. So that you can discover the only Provençal village depicted by Cézanne, the Tourist Office offers guided tours of the Cézanne sites.

During his stay in Gardanne, Cézanne visited MEYREUIL ( 10): “This still life of roof tops and cubes of houses on the cliff-side of the Sainte-Victoire”. To see these landscapes, take the D58.
Cézanne set up his easel on the Pont-de Bayeux road from where he immortalised, from a distance, Beaurecueil with its contorted pine trees and red earth, features of our land which often inspired the genius' palette. The earth of Meyreuil will always bear the imprint of Cézanne’s footsteps. And don't miss the historic “3 SAUTETS BRIDGE” ( 11) with its crowd of female Bathers and “army” of male Bathers below in the Arc River which the painter loved, as did his friend Zola.

The Arc River was a place of inspiration which enabled him to address the problem of integrating the nude into landscape. This was a theme which he painted time and time again, and "Les Grandes Baigneuses" marked the success of his pictorial research.

Continue to the first roundabout, take the motorway towards Lyon and then Sisteron, exit Entremont, continue down towards Aix. Pass the Chemin de la Marguerite on the left (Entremont and le Pré de la Marguerite or Daisy Field were two places where Cézanne liked to paint). At the traffic lights, turn left towards Loubassane, St-Eutrope, follow Avenue Léo Lagrange to the Two Pillars of the Gate ( 12).
Ahead is Les Lauves, with the vast panorama of the Sainte-Victoire mountain.

Studio ( 13). After the death of his mother, the Jas de Bouffan property was sold. Cézanne had his studio built on a wind-sheltered hill to the north of town. Although the surrounding area has changed, the studio has managed to preserve the character that the painter wanted to give it.

After the death of his mother and the sale of the Jas de Bouffan family house, Cézanne had a studio constructed in 1901 on the chemin des Lauves. This is where he created the masterpieces of his final period, including the Large Bathers. A true shrine to Cézanne, the studio-museum, surrounded by a romantic garden, keeps the artist’s memory intact.