Jas de Bouffan Family Property

Open all year, except 1 Jan, 1 May and 25 Dec.
For private visits, contact us for details.

Cézanne was 20 years old when his father acquired the Jas de Bouffan estate in 1859,and 60 when it was sold in 1899.
The site is the "centre of gravity" of the Provence region so loved by the painter. In the 1860s,Cézanne even decorated the wall in the Grand Salon with monumental and religious works of art and a series of portraits. It is here that he learnt to paint in the open air:from the garden he painted his first Sainte-Victoire mountain in 1870. In 1871, he started to paint the avenue of chestnut trees and the pond, producing several different paintings through to the 1870s and 1880s.Cézanne moved away from his rough brushwork style associated with his youth and sought to bring more light to his palette. In the 1880s,he added a geometric rigour to his work, particularly in his representations of the house. From 1890, he used the estate’s farmers as models: card players,pipe-smoking men, or an old woman with rosary beads. He worked slowly, his aim being not to imitate but to "produce" , in other words to make something solid and lasting.

He gave a dimension of timelessness to everyday gestures.