About provence
The MEDITERRANEAN, Marseilles, Cassis
DISCOVER OLIVE TREES in the footsteps of Van Gogh
LIFESTYLES: markets, food and wine
PROVENCAL TOWNS: Avignon or Aix en Provence?
PAINTERS IN PROVENCE
Cézanne, van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, Signac, Matisse, Braque, Derain, Dufy… Many great names.
They all worked in Provence and loved this land so generous in colours, bright light, interesting subjects and attractive culture where they could find their inspiration.
Cézanne and Van Gogh completed their most famous works in this area.
Born in Aix-en-Provence, Cézanne explored new ways of painting in this city and its surroundings and thus opened the door to modern painting like cubism. This tendency is particularly evident in the last series of canvasses of Sainte-Victoire when he was perfecting his art.
Van Gogh made Arles and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence famous worldwide; the mountain range of les Apilles; olive trees and cypress trees so emblematic of Provence anticipating expressionism.
Cézanne, the master of Aix attracted many other painters to the area like Picasso who found in Provence what his natal Spain could nolonger offer him, for example the bullfighting in Arles which reminded him of his own country.
Several paintings of the amphitheatre of Arles and of his wife Jacqueline, represented like the ladies of Arles, are his tribute to the land of Provence where he is buried in his castle of Vauvenargues on the south side of Sainte-Victoire.