Paul Cézanne Walk, Aix-en-Provence, France

The famous artist, Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence in 1839 and spent most of his life in the city. There’s a Cézanne walk starting at Foutaine de la Rotonde that will guide you to his birthplace, his high school and many other points of interest throughout the city.

First, a little about his life. His father had hoped Paul would continue in his footsteps in the banking business at Cézanne & Cabassol, but Paul’s interest was in art. He applied to the École des Beaux-Art in Paris but was not accepted. Instead, he attended the tuition free Académie Suisse where he studied drawing. He became discouraged with art and Paris, and returned to Aix to work in his father’s bank. Eventually, he returned to Paris hoping to attend École des Beaux-Art, but was rejected again. He faced other disappointments along the way, but eventually was able to sell a few paintings in his lifetime. Click here if you’re interested in learning more about his life.

As mentioned above, the art walk will lead you past his birthplace and high school.

One of the stops along the walk is the Granet Museum which houses a small collection of his paintings. Cézanne’s post-impressionist works experimented with new approaches and influenced the early 20th century avant-garde artistic style. His creative brushstrokes make his paintings quite unique and easy to recognize.

The Granet Museum also displays a number of artists.

The museum has a nice variety of other works and artifacts.

I found this marble statue in the photo below of Charles-Michel, de l’Epée to be quite interesting. He was known as the “father of the deaf” and in 1760 founded the first school for the deaf, located in Paris. He created the signs in the statue below to help deaf people communicate.

There is an interesting collection of Egyptian artifacts.

Also along the walk, at the end of rue Cardinale is St. Jean-de-Malte, a 13th century Gothic Roman Catholic church, the first of its kind in Provence.

As you stroll through the city, following the Cézanne walk, you will see many lovely sights.

Cézanne had this to say about Aix: when you are born there, it’s hopeless, nothing else is good enough.

We should present the image of what we see and forget everything that came before us. Paul Cézanne

I hope you enjoyed this stroll through Aix and learning a bit about Paul Cézanne. As always, I would love to hear from you, so leave a message if you’d like.

Wishing you grand adventures,

Tricia