At the Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence to see the excellent ‘Cézanne et la Modernité’ exhibition, showing the collection formed by Henry and Rose Pearlman, with masterpieces by some of the greatest artists of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements. A wonderful  group of paintings and watercolours by Paul Cézanne, as well as paintings and sculptures by artists including Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Manet, Vincent van Gogh, Jacques Lipchitz, Edgar Degas and Amedeo Modigliani.

Paul Cézanne ‘Mont Sainte-Victoire’ (c.1902)

Vincent van Gogh ‘Tarascon Stage Coach’ (1888)

Amedeo Modigliani ‘Portrait of Jean Cocteau’ (1917)

At the Musée National d’Art Moderne in the Pompidou Centre, Paris, to see ‘Multiple Modernities, 1905 – 1970’. The Museum has the second largest collection of modern and contemporary art in the world, with works representing Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, Dada and Surrealism.

Otto Dix ‘Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden’ (1926)

Otto Dix ‘A Memory of the Glass House in Brussels’ (1920)

Also being shown was ‘Man Ray, Picabia et la Revue Littérature’, a fascinating account of the periodical of the Surrealist movement which was published from 1922 to 1924.

A visit to Musée d’Orsay, Paris, particularly to see works by the French realist artists Honoré Daumier, Gustave Courbet and Jean-Francois Millet. It was also an opportunity to see works by Symbolist and Neo-Impressionist artists such as Odilon Redon, Maurice Denis, Georges Seurat and Paul Signac.

Honoré Daumier ‘The Republic’ (1848)

Gustave Courbet ‘Burial at Ornans’ (1849 – 50)

Jean-François Millet ‘The Gleaners’ (1857)

At Opera Garnier to see a fascinating exhibition entitled ‘Les Ballets Suédois – An Avant-Garde Company, 1920 – 1925.’ Les Ballets Suédois appeared in Paris around the same time as the better known Ballets Russes. However, they were able to work with artists such as Fernand Léger, Giorgio De Chirico and Francis Picabia and writers including Jean Cocteau.

At the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris to see the magnificent ‘Water Lilies’ series by Claude Monet and the Walter – Guillaume Collection of Modern Art.

Monet began working on the paintings of his water garden at Giverny in 1914 and continued painting them until his death in 1926. He donated them to France after the First World War and they are now exhibited in two specially constructed oval rooms. 

Claude Monet ‘Water Lilies’ (1914 – 1918) 

Paul Guillaume (1891 – 1934) was a collector and art dealer who represented some of the most important artists of the avant-garde in the early twentieth century. His own excellent collection was sold to the French state by his widow and it contains superb examples of the work of Cezanne, Renoir, Modigliani, Picasso, Matisse and Derain among others.

Amadeo Modigliani ‘Paul Guillaume’ (1915) 

 Paul Cézanne ‘Portrait of Madame Cézanne’ (c.1890)

Pablo Picasso ‘Large Bather’ (1921)

André Derain ‘Harlequin and Pierrot’ (1924)

Exploring the Medoc wine region, near Bordeaux, France. Staying at the excellent Chateau Ormes de Pez.