A Street Revisited

A painting of a street in Aix-en-Provence which I did in early May and recently tweaked. 16x20 inches, oil on linen canvas.

A Street in Provence

A street in Aix-en-Provence.  16x20 inches, oil on linen canvas.  This street (Lisse des Cordeliers) intersects with another street, actually named Rue Fermee, which was not closed when I was there.

An Alley in Aix

An alley in Aix.  16x20 inches, oil on linen canvas.

At The Jas

When at the Jas de Bouffan in Aix three and half years ago, I set up my easel in the field at the left to the space in front of the mansion.  The mansion, which you can't see, is in the center-right of the painting behind the plane trees which border one side of the space leading to the house.  Anyway, the sun streaks and tree shadows intrigued me then, but I can still feel today the excitement of painting at what for me is a sacred site.  9x12 inches, oil on board.

Jas De Bouffan

This front corner view of the Jas de Bouffan in Aix I painted from the edge of a side clearing.  The plane tree is the last one in a row leading up to the mansion.  Cezanne lived and painted there for forty years.  9x12 inches, oil on board.

The Spirit of Cezanne

While looking at paintings and postings, I found that I never posted some paintings done in Aix over three years ago.  At the time, the grounds in front of the Jas de Bouffan were open, though the building itself was not.  I walked there and painted.  The place was usually empty except for the spirit of Paul Cezanne.  9x12 inches, oil on linen.

 

A Souvenir of Aix

This small painting is a souvenir of the time I spent in Aix-en-Provence.  I would pass this fountain daily on my way to and from French language class.  The location is the Place des Quatre Dauphins at the intersection of the Rue du 4 Septembre and Rue Cardinale.  In hindsight, I probably should have spent more time wandering in Le Tholonet in the footsteps of Cezanne.  6x8 oil on gessobord.

An Old Part of Aix

Here's a view of a side street in the old part of Aix in Provence.  The morning light was bouncing off the sun lit buildings across the narrow lane to those in shadow. This is a studio painting I did about three weeks ago.  12x12 oil on panel.

Mud and Transcendence

Another view of Rue Celony in Aix.  The experience of Rue Celony has to be contemplated in paint over time.  It's not something I can absorb and understand all at once.

Here's another interesting passage from the James Elkins book What Painting Is:  "What matters in painting is pushing the mundane toward the instance of transcendence.  The effect is sublimation, or distillation: just as water heats up and then suddenly disappears, so paint gathers itself together and then suddenly becomes something else -- an apparition hovering in the fictive space beyond the picture plane.  The boiling point, just before the substance evaporates, is the crucial moment, and it is vexed."

By the word 'mundane' Elkins means that paint stuff, which comes in tubes, and is formless when spread on a palette, and is like mud.

Same Spot in Aix

The top painting I did while in Aix in September.  It represents the Jas de Bouffan, the mansion acquired by Paul Cezanne's father in 1859.  It's a 9x12 oil on multimedia board.

The other painting was done by Cezanne in 1887-90.  What is interesting about the Cezanne painting (besides being a great painting) is that it is the only painting considered to be of the front or north side of the Jas de Bouffan.  All of the other fifty or so oils and watercolors of the Jas de Bouffan Cezanne did at the back of the building.  I'm not convinced that the Cezanne painting represents the front of the building.  The balcony and main ground floor entrance are not visible though Cezanne always took liberties.  But I like the idea that I could have been standing in the same spot as Cezanne when I did my painting.

Aix Intersection

This is not a view of Rue Celony.  The painting depicts where Rue Aude intersects with Rue Espariat in the old section of Aix en Provence.  The sun makes an enormous difference in how these ancient buildings appear.  It is a 12x16 oil on panel.

Rich Rue and Squeezed Cars

Another view of Rue Celony in Aix-en-Provence.  This narrow street is rich in views.  People in Aix squeeze cars into the tiniest parking spots using great patience and many backward and forward movements.  However, most cars that I saw had tell-tale signs of this activity.

The End of Landscape

Rue Celony again.  It is a narrow street that pedestrians and vehicles use as a shortcut to get to the old part of Aix.  Fortunately there are metal barriers to separate people from machines.  This painting is a 12x16 oil on panel.

Here are a couple interesting quotes from the Alex Danchev biography of Paul Cezanne:

'Asked why he was so fond of ultramarine, he [Cezanne] replied: "Because the sky is blue."'

'"With Cezanne landscape itself comes to an end," proclaimed the artist Robert Motherwell in the 1940's.'

Visual Time

When in Aix, I would see this view every day, illuminated differently of course depending upon the location of the sun and clouds.  This is just one slice of visual time.

Up in Aix

This little 9x12 oil painting is the one I prize the most of those I did while in Aix.  I took the bus out to Le Tholonet with all my gear, and climbed up the path to a spot where surely Cezanne once stood.  I could hardly contain my excitement.

Rue Celony

This 12x16 oil on panel depicts on the left side a view down Rue Celony in Aix-en-Provence.  If one were to continue for another mile and a half or so, the Jas de Bouffan would be on the left.  But I couldn't help being impressed by this magnificent building and its diagonal shadow.

View in Aix

A 12x9 oil on multimedia board that I did while in Aix a few weeks ago.  This view was accessible from a side area off the Pavillon de Vendome garden.