My weekend adventure at Aix-en-Provence, France - (Day 1 - afternoon cont.) - Museum Granet extended premises at the Chapel of Pénitents Blancs - The Jean Planque Collection - The 20th of January 2017

As I walked out of the Museum Granet I tried to visit the Church of Saint Jean de Malte but there were funeral obsequies being carried out so I opted to walk onto Rue Maréchal Joffre to gain access to the Chapel of the Pénitents Blancs where the Art collection pertaining to Jean Planque were being exhibited.

One of Jean Planque's quotations right at the entrance of the exhibition drew my attention, namely because I can  relate to it, not necessarily at the same level of "imposition" but in a fairly strong way.

" J'ai mieux aimé les tableaux que la vie. (...) Ma vie = tableaux. (...) Le tableau s'impose à moi avec brutalité dans sa totalité et je pressens. Je pressens le mystère, ce qui ne peut être dit ni à l'aide de la musique, ni à celle des mots. Immédiate préhension. Chose émotionelle. Possession de tout mon être. Je suis en eux et eux en moi Tableaux!"

I decided to have an audio guide throughout the exhition, which clearly provided me with precious information on some of the paintings I came across including many I knew quite a lot about.

The first painting I set my eyes on was an "unknown" Van Gogh, whose story behind its acquisition I was touched by.  



Bouquet de fleurs by Vincent Van Gogh - 1806 oil on canvas

Leicester Square by Claude Monet - 1901 oil on canvas

La mer et les bateaux by Raoul Duffy - 1922 oil on canvas

Finlandaise by Sonia Delaunay - 1907 oil on canvas

Femme au mirroir by Pablo Picasso - 1959 oil on canvas (left). Femme au chapeau dans un fauteil by Pablo Picasso - 1939 oil on canvas (right).

Nu et homme à la pipe (la conversation) - 1968 oil on canvas

Femme au corsage  by Pablo Picasso - 1958 lithography (left).

On the upper florr among some of Jean Planque's own paintings and others of less known painters pertaining to his collection I came across a gallery with a few rather exquisite sculpted pieces by  Kosta Alex, which mostly fascinated me due to the level of creativity and use of "recycling material".



Cézanne à l'ouvrage by Jean Planque - watercolour

Intérieur au nu by Paul Basilius Barth - 1937 oil on canvas (left).  Le baigneur by Hans Berger - around 1940 oil on canvas (right)

The English cyclist - 1960 painted sewn cardboard (left). The girl from the Southern France - collage/relief in cardboard and paper (right).

The man of Kalahari - 1965 wood assembling

 Little boy blue - 1966 painted wood (right)

I can't help saying that having visited this Granet Museum extended premises provided me with an immense joy.

My weekend adventure at Aix-en-Provence, France (day 1 afternoon) - The Museum Granet - The 20th of January 2017

As I moved along Rue d'Italie there were certain sights that reminded me of Toulouse inspite of the ovious differences.

Before visiting the permanent Art collection I walked into a temporary exhibition by Olivier Bernex,  which under normal circumstances I wouldn't have gone to because of the modernity of the artistic approach though I must recognise that I ended up liking it, namely due to the profusion of colours and the Henri Rousseau references therewith associated. 

La Révolution du Printemps - 2012-2014 - acrilic on canvas

Seconde promenade - Chutes de pierres enneigées - 2010 - acrilic on canvas

"... J'ai appris ainsi par ma propre expérience que la source du vrai bonheur est en nous ..." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1777

Sixième Promenade - Monde hostile - 2011 - Acrilic on canvas

"Il est des sortes d'aversités qui élèvent et renforcent l'âme, mais il en est qui l'abattent et la tuent ... Le séctacle de l'injustice et la méchanté me fait bouillir le sanf de colère." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - 1777

Dixième Promenade - Éveils préromantiques - August 2011 - acrilic on canvas

"J'ai passé soixante et dix ans sur terre et j'ai vécu sept." - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, inachevée, 1778

Ma treizième rêverie - Cosmogenie - 2013 - Acrilic on canvas

From that exhibit room I walked up onto the first floor having come across another fairly interesting temporary exhibit by Henri Cueco, whose artisitc apporaches were after several other famous painters' compositions.

L' énlèvement des Sabines - crayon and acrilic on canvas after Nicolas Poussin's.

Bethsabée au bain after Rembrandt and Paul Cézanne's

Baigneuses d'après Cézanne's

I finally made it to the Francois-Marius Granet's room in which several paintings caught my attention.

Intérieur d'un salle d'asile - 1844 oil on canvas

Le Cloître de Sainte-Marie-des-Anges - 1849 oil on canvas.

L'école des soeurs - oil on canvas - acquired by the city of Aix in 1988

Jean-August-Dominique Ingres - 1807 oil on canvas

Rome - Vue du couvent Saint-Bonaventure à travers une arcade du Colisée - 1849 oil on canvas

Le sommeil - 1849 oil on canvas

Jean-Auguste Dominique ingres - Étude d'homme assis de profil - oil on canvas

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres - Jupiter et Thétis

Moissons à Chambaudoin by Pierre-Edmond-Alexandre Hédouin (1820-1889)

La levée du camp de Midi - oil on canvas by Emile Loubon (1809-1863)

Les menons en tête d'un troupeau en Camargue by Émile Loubon

I finally walked back down to visit a room filled with sculptures, though the ones I was drawn to were some of the smaller framed ones hanging on the side walls and a bust, which immediately drew me back to some similar sculpted busts I had seen at a Museum in Bournemouth.

La prise de Damiette by Jean-Pancrace Chastel  - 1754/57 marble

Poèmes idylliques païens - 1889/1904 by Jean-Antoine Injalbert

I really enjoyed the number of hours I spent at the Museum, whose extended exhibit premises under the name of Jean Planque Collection, some streets further down I'd also have access to with the same entrance ticket.