Page updated on 10/22/2009
In private car with English speaking driver
RATES are valid until December 31, 2009
INTRODUCTION
From the middle of the 19th century, the region Provence, the Alps and French Riviera arouses the admiration and becomes source of inspiration as well as place of intense creativity for some impressionists painters, all of them fascinated by the beauty of the landscapes of the Mediterranean Sea. Fallen under the charm, the pioneers of a new painting style find an ideal ground where to surrender to their passion.
The Impressionists tried to introduce into the painting the glance returned to its autonomy. In every case, these painters were familiar, but were especially marked by the beauty of the South-East of France. Cezanne found the inspiration in the outskirts of Aix en Provence and also to some miles of the city of Marseille, in the Estaque port. It was there where their painting explodes and the line and the colour are pushed up to a degree of abstraction never reached. The cities of the South distinguish themselves by a remarkable variety where the landscapes and the population compose a mosaic of great wealth. As Van Gogh said it: "All the future of the new art is in the South".
FAMOUS PAINTERS IN PROVENCE - 5 Days trip
Day 1. MARSEILLE. Arrival transfer from airport or railway station to the hotel. Rest of the day free.
AIX en PROVENCE
Aix-en-Provence is often called the "city with the miles fountains", the most beautiful of them being on the square of the Four Dolphins and the "cours Mirabeau". Aix en Provence is also known for having seen born many artists such as Jean Baptiste Van Loo (1684-1745) or Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) who is incontestably the painter the most known inhabitant of Aix en Provence. Moreover, his workshop has not changed since his disappearance. It is in Aix en Provence that the celebrity comes to surprise him thanks to her fame among the painters Monet (1840-1926), Sisley (1839-1899) and Pissarro (1830-1903), his master. However and contrary to them, Cezanne releases impressionist techniques very quickly. With broad luminous touches, he created ratios of colours ever used before him. He invents the aesthetics of the instability which is one of the dominant currents of the 20th century. He travels much but the nostalgia of his country often brings back him to Aix en Provence. A Cezanne circuit in the city makes possible to locate downtown the places attended by the painter: the way of the Arc where he liked to walk, the family House the "Jas de Bouffan", the "cours du Pistachier" in Château Noir, and the surroundings of Aix en Provence countryside which inspired him. At 15 kms, at the East of Aix en Provence, it can be seen the powerful mass of the Mont St Victoire which was the inspiring motive for a great number of his paintings.
Accommodation at the Aquabella hotel in Aix en Provence.
Day 2. MARSEILLE. In the morning, visit of Marseille and of the Estaque port. In the afternoon, excursion to Cassis and cruise along the "Calanques".
MARSEILLE
Twenty six centuries of history make of Marseille the oldest French city. It is a city which lives with its time, is modernized without cease and develops ambitious projects in particular in the cultural field with a dozen museums. Among them the museum of Fine Arts which collections cover all the 15th until the 20th century. There are 3 Marseille' artists which works went out from the ordinary: Pierre Puget (1620-1694, sculptor and architect); with his realistic works in contradiction with the official art of the time, Honore Daumier (1808-1879, painter, lithographer and sculptor); a long time known for his caricatures and his portraits and whose works are discovered only after his death and Adolphe Monticelli (1824-1886, painter); of which 16 of his paintings are in the gallery of the School of Provence.
The famous "Vieux Port" of Marseille is a pictorial stage impossible to circumvent for the landscape designers such as Felix Ziem (precursory of Impressionism), Verdhilhan (1875-1928) and Loubon (1809-1863). The site attracts also the modern ones like Marquet (1875-1947) and Signac (1863-1935) who come to paint there according to nature, the light being partially beautiful at the end of the day. The museum Ziem, museum devoted to the artist, accommodates 40 of his paintings today, as well as works of artists like Dufy (1877-1953) and Manguin (1874-1949).
ESTAQUE
Estaque is a fishermen village on a bay in the West of Marseille, today industrial suburbs of the city. The mother of Cezanne had a house Place Church, today Place Malterre, where he came looking for a shelter with Hortense, his wife, in 1870. Estaque is the ideal place to find calms and peace during the war of 1870-1871 during Napoleon III time. It was then a perfect place to paint.
There are few chances to see Estaque under snow today, as it was
in Cezanne's painting "Neige fondante à l'Estaque". However, certain things that Cezanne saw can be still seen. The extraordinary painting "Maisons à l'Estaque" gives the impression of being in front of a reality which could not completely disappear: these provençals cottages nested between the trees and of the slopes of rock which seem to be planted on the ground. Renoir came even to join him and worked with him. Besides, Cezanne preferred to work there in full summer and by a so appalling sun, that it seemed to him that all the objectives were detached in shades.
This small fishing port of moving colours, with the mauve and blue rocks, with red tiled roof, will remain a pole of the new painting. With the turning of the century, the refineries appeared around Estaque and Cezanne ceased painting the place.
CASSIS
"Who saw Paris, and not Cassis, has seen nothing!" claims an old local saying. Many villages of the coast were urbanized at the point to lose their original charm, but Cassis always resembles to the small fishing port, very animated, which allured considerable artists and which was created 500 years before J-C. Cassis, celebrated by Mistral (writer 1830-1914) in his poem
"Calendau", is one of the cradles of modern painting in particular with the fauvism: Derain (1880-1954), Vlaminck (1876-1958), Matisse (1869-1954) and Dufy (1877-1953) exerted their talent there. Installed in the "Maison de Cassis", the Museum of Art and Traditions Popular, restored in 18th century, contains archaeological parts found in the area, manuscripts relating to the city, the tables and the sculptures of regional artists.
Breakfast and accommodation at Aquabella hotel in Aix en Provence.
Day 3. MARSEILLE. Full day excursion to Aix en Provence: programme "Cezanne and the St Victoire Mont ".
Breakfast and accommodation at Aquabella hotel in Aix en Provence.
Day 4. MARSEILLE. Full day excursion to Arles:
programme " Arles, inspiration for Van Gogh, includin visit to St Remi de Provence.
ARLES
Arles, Roman capital and great religious centre at the Middle Age, keeps from its glorious past two of the most beautiful Gallo-Roman antiquities: the arenas and the theatre, which make that the city is classified World Patrimony by the UNESCO. With its 77000 ha of surface, Arles is the largest commune of France. In 1888, Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), Dutch painter universally known now, settles in this city. It is here that his impressionist style evolves to the search for "the equivalent of Japan". The provençals landscapes and their luminosity answer his hopes. He paints some 200 paintings of the nature; the work of fields; some features, the sights of Arles and his familiar universe of which, in particular, the "Maison jaune", "Les Alyscamps", l'Arlesienne" and so on, which are some of his more seizing works during his Arlesian period. He was a friend of Gauguin, who sought also another way of expressing his art, and they live together a few weeks at the Maison jaune.
It is in Arles and probably because of his privation life, the alcohol, the lot of work done and the Gauguin's criticism that the first crisis of madness appeared. After an altercation with Gauguin, he cuts his right ear...
A hike makes possible to discover his familiar places. A dozen stages are announced by panels that restore each one of his paintings.
SAINT REMY DE PROVENCE
In May 1889, Van Gogh leaves Arles for the Asylum Saint Paul de Mausole in St Remy de Provence. He comes there to find the rest and the care to alleviate his suffering. It follows a pictorial period of vagrancy in the solid mass of the Alpilles his accompanied exits. Today, in the monastery one can visit the room of the artist, as well as discover the sites painted by the artist through a marked out route of panels reproducing his works. It can also be seen the paintings of artists less known as Auguste Chabaud (1882-1955) who has his work in the museum which bears its name. The museum exposes about sixty works of this painter.
Breakfast and accommodation at Aquabella hotel in Aix en Provence.
Day 5. MARSEILLE. Departure transfer from hotel to the airport or railway station. Breakfast.
RATES per person in double room and in " euros "
Validity till December 31th, 2009
| Number of clients | Rates per person |
| 2 persons | 1 512 |
| 3 persons | 1 125 |
| 4 persons | 966 |
| 5 persons | 845 |
| 6 persons | 761 |
| 7 persons | 704 |
| Supplement for single room | 270 |
INCLUDED SERVICES
° 4 night-stay in double standart room including breakfast
° Arrival and departure transfer in private car with english speaking driver.
° Visits and excursions in private car.
° Local guide for the morning visit of the day 2, as well as day 3 & 4.
° Fees expences in Cassis 1 hour cruise along the "Calanques", in Aix-en-
Provence entrance at Granet Museum and Paul Cezanne's workshop, in Saint
Remi entrance at Museum of Saint Paul de Mausole.
HOTEL AQUABELLA
2, rue des Etuves -- 13100 AIX EN PROVENCE -- Phone. 04 42 99 15 00
This modern hotel of provençal style, is situated close to the Thermes de Sextius. More information about the Hotel Aquabella.
If this 5 days trip Famous Painters in Provence interests you, please,
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SOME FAMOUS PAINTERS
CEZANNE Paul (1839-1906)
Inheriting part of the fortune of his father, Paul Cezanne is a rich painter, and regarding his father as "a man of genius", if he measures the genius for his wide financial success, he is obliged to regard himself as a failure since his painting hardly brings back much money. Having received a bad reception by the public and tired of being the target of mockery of critics of other painters, he deviates from the impressionist group in 1878 and goes to settle down in Aix en Provence. The first Cezanne exhibition in 1895 obtains a great "success of scandal". He is very disappointed to find out that the public still sulkies him. However before dying, the painter notes that his works are not without value: numerous are the young painters who show him their admiration and consider his works as the first of a new style of painting. After his death, his paintings makes an extraordinary jump and are now among the most expensive.
"Le Grand Pin et les Terres Rouges", "Les Grandes Baigneuses" and "Le Portrait de Louis-Auguste Cezanne" painted in Aix en Provence are some examples of the sudden increase of rate which became masterpieces.
GAUGUIN Paul (1848-1903)
It is in 1873 that he starts to paint and is interested in the impressionists of which he collects works. Thanks to Pissarro (1830-1903), who encourages him, he takes part in the exhibitions of the group. After a stay in Arles with Van Gogh that ended with the dramatic episode of the cut ear, Gauguin turns over to Pont-Aven and then settles in Paris. It is during his stay in Arles that he starts painting on sackcloth of tilt. Some of his paintings during his stay in Arles are: "Cafe de nuit", "Misères humaines" and "Autoportait".
His Polynesian works illustrate his theories on the musical and abstract character of the pure colour and the composition. For him, the expression of
"états d'me" by the line and the play of the colours must override fidelity with immediate reality. He dies in the Marquises Islands and some quote him like the most important artist of his generation.
MATISSE Henri (1869-1654)
It is the portrait of his wife "La Femme au chapeau dans la cage aux fauves", that creates a scandal in the "Salon d'automne " in 1905, and that gives birth to a new style called "Fauvisme". It is in the South, during his stays in Cassis and Collioure, that Matisse discover the Polynesian works of Gauguin. He meets there Derain Andre (1880-1954). These 2 artists are the creators of the "Fauvisme" style and Matisse will be the "chef de file". In 1906, Matisse meets Picasso. They will draw from their own works without cease to improve their creations. The "fauvisme" movement will last until 1907 and will count at the end only Matisse and Dufy.
VAN GOGH Vincent (1853-1890)
It is said that Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life. In fact, Van Gogh, mythical painter, sells during his existence only few paintings of which "Vignes Rouges d'Arles". The obsession of Van Gogh is to have a showroom to him in a coffee-bar. He is persuaded that the common peoples will be able to better appreciate his works that the informed collectors. It is in Provence that he carries out his most intense paintings. Under the influence of the impressionists, in particular of Pissarro (1830-1903), he gives up the dark and neutral colours of his beginnings. In 1888, he leaves for Arles where he is joined by Gauguin (1848-1903). After the crisis of madness where he mutilates his ear, the painter is interned in the St-Remy-de-Provence asylum and carries out lyric and violent paintings from where he will draw all the contemporary expressionism. The colours and the materials nourish the spirit and the suffering of the man which make burst his genius and his reason. It is only nearly 10 years after his death that his works start to have success. At the end of the second world war, the price of his works creates sensation.
Some of his paintings made during his arlesian period are: "Le Zouave", "Le Café de nuit", "L'Arlésienne: Madame Ginoux avec des livres" et "La Maison Jaune".
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fill in this form.
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