Paul Cézanne, Superstar

Paul Cézanne, Superstar

Matisse called him "the father of us all." He helped catapult Picasso into Cubism. And nearly every artist working today owes a huge debt to the man who finally kicked over the traces of traditional art—Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Aix-en-Provence's most famous native son. His images of Mont Ste-Victoire and his timeless still-lifes are the founding icons of 20th-century painting. With them, he not only invented a new pictorial language but immortalized his Provenal homeland. So it is only proper that Provence is returning due honor in 2006 by marking the centenary of his death with a packed calendar of special events. The "Saison Cézanne" is spearheaded by a blockbuster show first seen at Washington, D.C.'s National Gallery of Art—"Cézanne in Provence" and two spectacular concerts held at the foot of Mont Ste-Victoire. For a complete rundown of the festivities, log onto www.cezanne-2006.com.

Great Cézannes may hang in museums (or appear for sale—one brought $50,000,000 in 2003) but you can't really understand the artist without experiencing his Provence firsthand. As it turns out, he is everywhere: Aix even has a Cézanne trail (marked with "C" copper studs) to mark sites within town. The two most moving locales, however, are set just outside the city. Cézanne's father bought the Jas de Bouffon estate in 1859 to celebrate his rise from hatmaker to banker. The budding artist lived here until 1899. Today, its salons are empty but the grounds are full of his spirit, especially the Alle de Marronniers out front. Opening April 2006 for the first time to the public, the Jas is a mile south of town and can only be visited on tour by booking a minibus seat through the town's central tourist office (www.aixenprovencetourism.com—hours and prices were not fixed at press time.) One mile north of Aix's center is "Les Lauves," the studio the artist built in 1901, set in a magically overgrown olive grove. The high point here lies a mile along the Chemin de la Marguerite: the belvedere spot from which the artist painted his last views of Mont Ste-Victoire (indeed, he died shortly after being caught in a storm here.)

The Mona Lisa of modern art, Cézanne painted self-portraits that were inscrutable and hiding many secrets. He was illegitimate; he wound up having an 17-year-long affair with Hortense Piquet; and he hid his own illegitimate son from his father to inherit the family fortune. Indeed, this "painter of peasants" never worked a day in his life. Unless, that is, you consider revolutionizing the art of painting "work." When he abandoned Aix's art academy for the dramatic landscapes of the surrounding hills, he became smitten with the stark, high-noon light of Provence, rejecting the sugar-almond hues of Impressionism. Instead of mixing colors to create shadows like Monet, he simply used black. Instead of using translucent haze to create an effect of distance, he focused on ruler-straight Provençal streets (laid out by ancient Romans) to hurtle the eye from for to background. In the end, Cézanne wanted to impose himself on the landscape, not vice versa. So why not do the same? With brochures from the Aix tourist office, head out into Cézanne Country—the roads leading to Le Tholonet and Mont Ste-Victoire. Walk these shady trails and you'll learn just how Cézanne became the trailblazer of modern art.