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Gardanne
Between 1885 to 1886, to be closer to Aix, Cézanne chose this village to settle with Hortense Fiquet and little Paul at 27 Forbin Court. This borough of 2645 inhabitants granted him a life of serenity; he formed friendships with some locals and the young Paul attended the elementary school for boys. This period was punctuated by two major events in the painter's life: it was from Gardanne that he broke off his friendship with his childhood friend Émile Zola, and on April 28th, 1886, he married Hortense in Aix, thus formalizing her marital status in her parents' eyes. During these few months he attempted to paint the old village perched on the hill of Cativel. Joachim Gasquet, a friend, wrote: “he paints from all sides this village of Gardanne rooted in its slope; the rugged bell tower, the russet cluster of houses, the burned roofs, great masses of foliage that always provide refreshment, a well of green light out there somewhere in the heat”. Today, Paul Cézanne Boulevard leads to the “hill of the brothers” and an outdoor museum. A visit here, with its reproductions of works belonging to the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Barnes Foundation, brings about a realization of how the painter sought to depict the village's pyramidal form and complex structure. “The Gardanne period constituted a key transitional period. The composite structure of the city was used as a prototype for the structural painting concepts that Cézanne was developing” according to John Rewald. |
