Cezanne in Provence

Note that this edition is revised from the book published in 1996 by Universe of Art (isbn: 0-7893-0059-1).

CEZANNE in Provence was fashioned in two parts. The first half is part biography, part travelogue, while the second half contains beautiful reproductions of Cézanne's paintings. These paintings are part of a traveling exhibition traveling to Essen, Germany - Guggenheim Museum in New York form February 10th to May 8th, 2005 - Musee des Beaux-Arts de Montreal from Sept. 22nd, 2005 to January 8th, 2006 - Marseilles in 2006 - Washington, Jan 26th, 2006 to May 7th, 2006 and Aix-en-Provence from June 9th, 2006 to Sept. 17th, 2006 Denis Coutagne has been the director of the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence since 1980. It is no wonder that he describes Cézanne's paintings with such authority. Monsieur Coutagne gives us a glimpse in the life of a lonely artist who thought that art was priesthood. Both Monsieur Coutagne and Cézanne must have spent a great deal of their time in the area of Aix-en-Provence being imbued by its idyllic scenery. Each painting is described lyrically with a profound knowledge of Art History. Even if you find that Monsieur Coutagnes descriptions are a bit heavy at times, it helps to understand Cézanne's creative process. Nature for Cézanne "consists more of depth than of surface, whence the need to include in our vibrations of light, represented with reds and yellows, enough shades of blue to create a sense of air." His landscapes of Jas de Bouffan and Mont St. Victoire are imbued with a "light that does not exist" as he states enigmatically. "By this the artist meant light as a flux, bathing things and revealing their silhouettes and forms. Cézanne's oeuvre, therefore, consists in giving visible things their invisibility, in allowing the passage of one order into the other." Cézanne strove to fashion something other than reality. In his painting "red apples" he experiments with flat depth, steep views, tilting the horizontal plane of a tabletop, etc. thereby creating an image that seems askew but in fact is very pleasing to the eye and conforms to the canon of traditional painting. Monsieur Coutagne goes on dissecting each painting with alacrity In his lifetime, Cézanne was rejected as a painter by the aristocracy of Aix-en-Provence, leaving him to become a lonely soul who became obsessed with the beauty around him. Monsieur Coutagne depicts this countryside in lyrical terms. Whether you are a painter or just a tourist, you will want to go and wander in the steps of Cézanne's in Provence. Or, you can just admire the colored plates masterfully reproduced in CEZANNE in Provence. Lily Azerad-Goldman, Artist and Book Reviewer for Bookpleasures.com