Learning to Love Cézanne in His Picture-Perfect Hometown

Paul Cézanne’s artistic muse had sweeping shoulders, an enigmatic face and majestic beauty that loomed over his life’s work. But that obsession was a mountain, not a woman. Seduced by the sun’s chameleon-like effect on its limestone ridges, Cézanne painted more than 80 versions of Montagne Ste.-Victoire, a granite massif near his hometown, the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence.

Cézanne painted more than 80 versions of Montagne Ste.-Victoire in his lifetime, including this one, circa 1902-6.Credit…via Metropolitan Museum of Art

Aix is where Cézanne (1839-1906) was born and first put brush to palette. It’s where he painted many of his masterpieces, and it’s where he died. This year, from June to October, the city is honoring that legacy with a series of events linked to the reopening on June 28 of both the renovated Bastide du Jas de Bouffan, the artist’s 18th-century family manor, and the Atelier des Lauves, his last workshop. This celebration, Cézanne 2025, made Aix one of The New York Times 52 Places to Go in 2025 and will bring up to 400,000 more visitors to a city that’s already a prime summer destination. Key sites will be open only for guided visits, so reserve ahead.

Cézanne in around 1904, two years before his death. The people of Aix-en-Provence generally treated him with disdain during his lifetime, but this summer, the town is celebrating all things Cézanne with the reopening of his estate and studio.Credit…API/Gamma-Rapho, via Getty Images

This outpouring of admiration would have never happened a century ago. The Aixois generally derided the painter during his lifetime: The Impressionists aimed to please with their pretty palette. The Post-Impressionist Cézanne shocked with his bold colors and geometric forms. “It takes time to like Cézanne because he is more complex than you realize,” said Bruno Ely, director of the Musée Granet, which will present the largest collection of Cézanne’s work to date as part of Cézanne 2025.

The honey-colored stone used in the bourgeois Mazarin District came from nearby quarries whose pigments inspired Cézanne.