Picture perfect ...

The four white walls are about twice as high as those in your average house. A scarlet rug with a strange black splodge pattern lies on a floor covered with terracotta hexagonal tiles. The Catalan flag, red and yellow stripes, acts as the headboard to a lumpy looking double bed that faces ceiling-to-waist windows through which light floods in. Outside, towering above, is the rocky summit of Mont Ste Victoire – the much-loved subject of local artist Paul Cézanne who painted more than 80 versions of it.

I am standing in the minimalist, onetime bedroom of Pablo Picasso.

In 1958, Picasso rang his art dealer Kahnweiler to tell him that he’d bought Cézanne’s Mont Ste-Victoire. “Which one?” asked the latter. “The real one,” replied the artist. What he’d actually bought was the Château de Vauvenargues, an austere 17th-century house on the edge of the small village of the same name, and 2,500 acres of land at the foot of this celebrated mountain. Desiring to escape the attention he received at his home in Cannes, Picasso lived here with his second wife Jacqueline and her daughter Catherine from 1959-61.

Now, to coincide with a new exhibition that aims to show how Picasso was heavily influenced by the man he referred to as “Monsieur Cézanne, the father of us all”, the château, still owned by Catherine, is opening its doors to the public for the first time until 27 September.

Earlier, I’d left my comfortable room in the traditional surroundings of Hotel Cardinal in the centre of Aix-en-Provence, a university town and the capital of Provence from 12th to 18th century, and made my way past the 17th-century mansions in the Mazarin Quarter, to the Granet Museum – a former priory of the Knights of Malta and the home of the Picasso-Cézanne exhibition.

The exhibition has four themes: ‘Picasso observes Cézanne’, ‘Picasso collects Cézanne’, ‘Shared themes and shapes’ and ‘Picasso gets closer to Cézanne’, all of which aim to explore for the first time the Frenchman’s influence on the Spaniard. Looking at the artists’ works side-by-side, many of which are from private collections and have never been exhibited before, it appears that there was indeed a strong connection between the two men – who never met, even though they shared an art dealer in the early 1900s. It comes as no surprise that Picasso moved to this inspirational part of France – sweeping landscapes similar to his native Spain, great light and a relaxed and secluded way of life.

I headed down café-lined Cours Mirabeau in the shade of the plane trees, past Café Deux Garçons, well-known for attracting the great writers and artists of the day, and Béchard, lauded for its delicious calissons – elipse-shaped sweets made from ground almonds and melon.

Embedded in the pavement I noticed a dirty-gold stud with a capital C in the middle, indicating that I too was following in Cézanne’s footsteps – the studs form a trail around town taking in the major sites associated with the artist including his light-filled studio. An accompanying leaflet to the self-guided tour is available from the tourist office near the Rotunda fountain, the most impressive of Aix’s 40 fountains, where dolphins spout water over the heads of majestic lions.

Back in the present, I feel uncomfortable, like I’ve been shown around someone’s home while they’ve gone away: paints and brushes still stacked in the studio-drawing room, favourite objects, a home-movie of the family in happy times. But they haven’t gone away. In front of the house’s entrance is a circular piece of lawn with a primitive sculpture atop, ‘Woman with Vase’, and it is here that Picasso and Jacqueline are buried. In death, as in life, they found the solitude they craved – but for how long?

ENDS

INFO BOX

Getting There
By train – take Eurostar to Lille or Paris then the TGV to Aix-en-Provence. Standard return fares start at £109 from www.raileurope.co.uk or call 0844 848 4070.
By plane – the nearest airport is Marseille (15 miles). See www.skyscanner.net for the best flight deals.

Where to Stay
Hotel Cardinal – Tel: 00 33 4 42 38 32 30, www.hotel-cardinal-aix.com. Double rooms from €70.
Hotel Cézanne – Tel: 00 33 4 42 911 111, http://cezanne.hotelaix.com. Double rooms from €175.

Where to Eat
Chez Maxime, 12 Place Ramus, Tel: 00 33 4 42 26 28 51, http://restaurant-chezmaxime.com. Provençal restaurant with lunch menus from €24.90.
La Bastide du Cours, 43-47 Cours Mirabeau, Tel: 00 33 4 42 26 10 06, www.bastideducours.com. Midweek lunch menus from €15, served on a stylish terrace.

Tourist Information
Aix Tourist Office – Tel: 00 33 4 42 16 10 91, www.aixenprovencetourism.com
Picasso-Cézanne Exhibition – Tel: 00 33 4 42 52 88 32, www.picasso-aix2009.fr. Tickets €10 (concessions available). The exhibition ends on 27 September 2009.
Vauvenargues – Tickets €7.70 (concessions available) and must be bought on the day of visit from Hotel de Vallori, Place des 4 Dauphins (opens at 8.30am). Price includes shuttle bus from Trois Bons Dieux car park and tour of château (1hr 15 mins). Take public bus No. 4 from the Rotunda fountain in Aix to Trois Bons Dieux car park (€1.10 one way).