It’s been many years since I visited Aix en Provence and drank the refreshing wine of  Provence while sitting at a sidewalk café and staring at the natives and  admiring the lovely landscape of this region. 

What brings the above reminiscences to mind is the Cezanne exhibit now on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.  It is a mind-boggling exhibit of Cezanne paintings loaned from the most prestigious museums and private collections.

All in all, 110 oil paintings and water colors are on display from the U.S.—including the Whitehouse-- and the countries of Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, France and the Netherlands.  The collection on display must have taken years to organize and a fortune in insurance coverage to bring to the Nation’s Capital. It will probably be a once in a lifetime event and is certainly worth the visit. 

Viewing the Paintings

The exhibit will be at the National Gallery until May 7, 2006.  To beat the crowd—and there will be a crowd—show up when the gallery opens at 10am weekdays and 11am on Sunday and enter from the side door directly across the street from the East building of the National Gallery. 

Following Cezanne’s Footsteps  

Paul Cezanne comes at you from his many moods since his days in Paris to his home, the Jas de Bouffan in Aix-en-Provence.  If you by chance happen to be in France between February and December 2006 the Musee Granet in Aix-en-Provence is featuring an “initiation trail to discover Cezanne by making your way through settings…and landscapes which inspired his work.”  The Cezanne paintings won’t be there, but you may just find his aura .

For information on visiting the region there are many web sites to entice a visit.   

Here are but a few. 

www.crt-paca.fr/
www.visitprovence.com/
www.provenceguide.com/
www.alpes-haute-provence.com/ 

Addendum: 

When colleague Ted Heck read about our visit to the Cezanne exhibit in the National Gallery, he asked if there were any paintings of Mont St.Victoire, a favorite subject for the artist.  We told him “maybe there was twelve or so.”

Ted has vivid memories of the mountain. In December, 1945, he lived for 10 days on a ridge some miles south of Aix en Provence in a tent at CP 2, a staging area for his division, which was about to move to the front to face the German army.

He writes: “If I had known what was in store for us, I would have been a  happier camper at CP 2, even in the heavy rain. There were two saving graces: one was the daily visit by a French native with his donkey and cart—and wine barrel.  We filled our canteens with a red wine from grapes that he must have squeezed with his feet overnight.  But the price was right.”

“The other benefit of the location: if Bob Enzel can rhapsodize over staring at natives and sipping wine, imagine how privileged we soldiers were to sip wine, with Mont St. Victoire always in view.