Cezannes Studio

Aix en Provence has taken wholesale possession of the life of Cezanne who lived there most of his life . You can do a trip in the city observing where he was born, ate and drank, his family lived and died and there are sites outside the city where he painted such as the quarries. I confess that I spent the whole day just mucking about , buying a tail light for the bike then chasing up the batteries which are rare and of not supplied and waiting around foro the tour in English of his studio at 5pm. It is up a big hill . His studio did not have air conditioning and was stuffed with 30 hot people and a french lady without microphone struggling with English. It was built in 1902 in his late life and had on wall, thankfully on the north side, of window..to bring in the natural light. It was painted grey due to the colour being good for light . It also had a long thin floor to ceiling door to get the big canvases in and the finished ones out. After the initial explanation she went on and on about the collection of small items in th studio being Cezannes and being in this picture or that. Photos were not permitted but some wiley poms snuck in a few while she was extolling the virtue the ginger pot. Its a bit sad because the house which originally stood in the "countryside " is now surrounded by appartment buildings. I only got a picture of the cat which was obviously not Cezanne's. I think that the thing that struck me most is actually seeing the countryside in Aix, the beautiful Mt Victoire and how Cezanne really captured its essence. The houses in the villages in Provence and else where do sit like little red topped cubes in green angular countryside.