In the footsteps of Cézanne - Day Trip to Aix-en-Provence

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day with a high of 15C.  Perfect weather for a day trip to Aix-en-Provence.   We walked to the bus station which is just beside the main train station in Marseille.  There are buses every 10 minutes to Aix, which is just 30 km north of Marseille.  The trip is a quick 35 minutes.  Aix has a population of around 145,000.  It is a university town, with many teaching and research institutes with around 40,000 students.  It is also one of the 10 richest townships in France and was once the capital of Provence.   The architecture is beautiful and it is often referred to as the city of a thousand fountains. 

Very large Tourism Office 

We picked up a map at the Tourism Office with a walking tour entitled: In the Steps of Cézanne.  Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) was born in Aix and was passionately attached to the city and the surrounding countryside, where he painting many pictures of Montagne Sainte-Victoire. He went to primary school there and then entered the Collège Bourbon in Aix, where he became friends with Émile Zola.

The major street in Aix is Cours Mirabeau which is lined with plane trees, fountains, cafés, restaurants, upscale shops and elegant 17th and 18th century mansions. The Cours Mirabeau bisects old Aix into two distinct neighbourhoods.  Below the Cours, the carefully planned Quartier Mazarin is lined with 17th and 18th mansions.  Above, the Old Town twists and turns from square to fountain square, each turn leading to another row of boutiques and cafés.  

The start of the wide street Cours Mirabeau- La Rotonde, an enormous sculpture-foundation

Statue of Cézanne, by Gabriel Sterk, 2006

We started to walk down Cours Mirabeau and noticed a banner outside a building with a poster for a photography exhibit by Jacques Windenberger (b. 1935), a French reporter and photographer.  We decided to take a look.  The building was the former Hotel de Castillon from the 17th century.

Exhibit Poster

Inside the entrance

Windenberger was a reporter and photographer of daily life, workers and the human condition.  It was an excellent exhibit with most of the photos from the 50s to 70s, though there were some more recent photos.

Marché Rue Longue des Capucin, Marseille (1er arr.), October 23, 1992 .  
We walked by this street the other day.  Not a lot has changed.

Saisonnière Espagnole à la récolte des Tomates, Saint- Bénézet, September 1, 1961

La Patronne du Café, Plozévet, November 1, 1962

Arrivée du Ferry Boat Le Liberté, Marseille, March 16, 1988

Léonard Cohen au Progressive Music Festival, Domaine de Saint-Pons, Aix-en-Provence, August 1, 1970

Manifestations de la CGT, de la CFDT et des étudiants, de la Gare de l'Est à Denfert-Rochereau, Paris, May 13, 1968

May 13, 1968

We then resumed our walk down Cours Mirabeau, with our Cézanne guide in hand.  We first wanted to have a coffee at Les Deux Garçons, where Cézanne and many other artists, writers and celebrities had hung out.  Unfortunately, we found out that the café had been destroyed in a fire in 2019.  There was a mural on the hoardings of the café where a restoration is underway.  One part had famous quotes from people who had frequented or visited the café.

In front of the burned down Les Deux Garçons

A few doors down was one of the first stops on the Cézanne walking tour.  No. 55 has a plaque noting that it was the former hat shop of Paul's father, Louis-Auguste Cézanne.  He later became a banker.

Plaque reads: Capellerie L.-A. Cézanne, Père du Peintre, 1825

We decided to veer off Cours Mirabeau through the passageway beside the plaque and a few streets away was a wonderful Saturday morning food market in front of the Palais de Justice.

Palais de Justice, completed in 1832

It was a wonderful market.  The produce, cheese and other products were superb.  No wonder chefs return to Provence to open restaurants.

Tomatoes and artichokes

Nougats and jellied fruits

We bought some artichoke and tomato tempenades.  There was a lot of choice.

Wrapping our selection

Artichoke, olive (black and green), tomato and other tempenades

Strawberries and the wonderful small melons

Market is on a large square just north of the Main Street

Cheeses

Sausages

We deeked into another nearby street for a coffee at Mana.  We had their coffee beans in Nice and knew the main coffee shop was in Aix.  It was very busy at brunch time with a room in the back of the café.  We just had coffees as we were anxious to get back in the sun and continue our walk.

Inside Mana-- we were at the counter

We headed back to 30 Cours Mirabeau, which housed the apartment of Mrs. Cézanne Senior, who lived there from 1895 to her death in October 1897.  From June to September 1897, Cézanne visited his mother every evening and dined with her. She was disabled and Paul took out for rides in the sun. 

30 Cours Mirabeau

Come to be yourself- mirror for photos

Chefs in the windows

We headed down some side streets, following the Cézanne walking tour map. It really proved to be an excellent way of seeing the city.

8 Rue Frédéric Mistral, Home of Marie Cézanne, one of Paul's sisters, in 1897

 9, rue Frédéric Mistral. Home of Hortense (his wife) and Paul Cézanne Junior.  In 1891,
as Hortense had fallen out with her in-laws, Cézanne set them up in this apartment,
while he lived at the family Jas de Bouffan house with his mother and sister.

Another fountain and small square

Following the Cézanne markers (on part of the trail)

Saint-Jean-de-Malte Church where Madame Cézanne, Paul's mother's funeral took place

We stopped at a small pottery shop, where we bought a few small items.  The potter worked in the shop and helped wrap our purchases.

Expressions pottery studio

The White Penitents Chapel housed an art collection from 1866-76, which Cézanne, in a letter to Zola, did not think highly of.  The building was restored between 2011-13 and now houses an excellent modern art collection donated by the Jean and Suzanne Planque Foundation to the Musée Granet, the main art museum in Aix.

White Penitents Chapel (1654) on Rue du Maréchal Joffre

We stopped by the house of Cézanne's birth.  He was born on January 19, 1839, in a charitable institution run by the Misses Michel.

28 Rue de l'Opera- where Cézanne was born

Another small fountain

We stopped at the Cézanne family home from 1878-1881.

20 rue Émeric David

Beautiful mansions and lovely squares 

Église de la Madeleine, a former 17th century convent of the Preachers,
where the christening of Paul, his sister Marie, his parents marriage,
 and his other sister Rose's marriage took place,

Cézanne's last apartment where he lived from 1899 to 1906, when he died of pleurisy on October 23, 1906.

23 Rue Boulegon- plaque says "Dans cette maison est mort le 23 Octobre 1906, Paul Cézanne"

We walked by the City Hall square which had a number of cafés.  Very busy on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The City Hall has an Italian-style façade, carved wooden doors (1670), an old town belfry with astronomical clock (1661).

City Hall

Belfry attached to City Hall

Plaque for the August 1944 liberation of Aix

We stopped at Saint-Saveur Cathedral where the Christening of Paul's sister Rose took place on June 5, 1854, and the funeral of Paul Cézanne took place on October 24, 1906.

Saint-Sauveur Cathedral

Former Faculty of Law on Place de l'Université where Cézanne enrolled in December 1858.  He passed the first exam but did not enrol for his final degree year in 1860.
 It now houses an Institute for Political Studies.

Great poster for the David Hockney exhibit at the Musée Granet

We decided we would walk up to the "Atelier des Lauves", where Cézanne worked daily in a studio flooded with light where dozens of pieces were created between 1902 and 1906.  The studio in no longer home to his paintings, but still houses some of his belongings.  We had a bit of trouble finding the Atelier, but finally arrived at a beautiful spot in the northern part of Aix.

Entrance

There were some guided tours, but they were all sold out for the day.  However, we could wander around the grounds and we watched a video about Cézanne in a nearby shed.  It is a very small studio and we really just wanted the sense of the light and environs where he painted.

Outside of the studio

The back of the atelier looking into the room where Cézanne painted

Hills in the distance

Another view of the atelier

Trees in the neighbourhood

As we were leaving the atelier, we saw another sign indicating that an additional 15 minute walk up the hill would lead one to the spot where Cézanne often painted Montagne Sainte-Victoire.  As it was getting a bit late in the day, we decided to head back downhill into town.

We stopped at this boulangerie to get a piece of a beautiful cranberry nut bread to have with our tempenade.  The baker makes very large rectangular loaves, which are cut to order.

A quick stop in the beautiful Fragonard store

We decided to end our day in Aix by having a Pastis in a lovely Brasserie on Cours Mirabeau.

Lovely light

With my Pastis

Looking up the street from our great seats

Leaving Brasserie Cambarou after our drinks- most people had left the outside tables by then

La Rotonde at sunset

Around the corner we spotted Le Cézanne cinema

Office of Tourism as we were leaving Aix

The 6:40 p.m. bus was just loading as we got to the bus station.  It was a quick ride back to Marseille.  We walked back to the apartment and Alain prepared a lovely charcuterie plate with the tapenades and bread we had purchased in Aix, along with sausage, sheep cheese with lavender, a green salad and a glass of red wine.

It was a wonderful day trip.  Following in Cézanne's footsteps took us all over the city.  Aix has a very different feel than Marseille and made for an interesting contrast.  Wealthy vs. gritty; university town vs. multicultural; wide streets with mansions vs. mix of housing and lots of street art; small country town vs. big city.   We are glad we have made Marseille our base, but were also glad we had a chance to explore Aix.