Le Grand Atelier du Midi

In ancient Greece, Arcadia symbolized a calm, rural, voluptuous life, far from the city. In Nietsche’s words “this pure, clear world of light, which had no trace of yearning, of expectancy, of looking forward or backward,  at once heroic and idyllic”. The Mediterranean sparked the imagination of artists luring them to the sun-kissed south of France to pursue this hedonistic Arcadian dream and capture the exuberant light and gracious form in this great open air studio. “It is strange,” said Picasso, “In Paris I never draw fauns, centaurs or mythological heroes. One would say that they only live here?”

The exhibition Le Grand Atelier du Midi (the great studio in the Med) is the flagship event of the Marseille-Provence European Capital of Culture program. Conceived  as a diptych in two venues, it reunites the masters who painted here and made their mark in the history of art. Surmounting their jocular rivalry,  the two cities have pulled off a masterful feat. Marseille hosts the section from Van Gogh to Bonnard, focused on colour,  at the palais Longchamp,  and Aix-en-Provence hosts the section from Cézanne to Matisse, focused on form, at the Musée Granet.

Talking to some discerning guests on preview  day,  I find that they are duly impressed. “It is very significant that they chose to hold it at the palais Longchamp”, says Richard Thompson, Professor of Fine Art at Edinburgh University and member of the scientific committee of the exhibition, “it is THE Mediterranean museum”. The President of the Musée d’Orsay, responsible for a significant proportion of the works on display, agrees, “it used to be one of the most unsightly museums in France”, says Guy Cogeval, “now it’s one of the most beautiful.”  Perhaps the most poignant comment comes from M et Mme Salard,  representing the Hecht Museum in Haifa which contributed the Soutine oil painting, “the exhibition not only provides us an education,  a thread through the history of art, through Signac, Mattise, Van Gogh, Dufy, Maillol, Cézanne,  Renoir, but it is also such a unique experience that as soon as you go outside you see the same light as they did, the same sun, the same colours.”

I could see what they meant. Once you sweep through the 200 works from the artists that answered the call of the great studio in the Med, depicting its bathers,  fishermen,  coves,  and gardens,  and then go back outside to this land where Matisse began his initiation in color, the connection is felt not so much through your eyes but in your gut. To best describe the feeling I’ll paraphrase Edward Hopper—if it could be explained in words, there would be no reason to paint it.

 

Le Grand Atelier du Midi

Through October 13, 2013

Open daily 9am to 7pm – Thursdays 12pm to 11pm

www.mp2013.fr/the-grand-atelier-du-midi

€11 (€19 for both venues)

 

From Van Gogh to Bonnard

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Palais Longchamp, Marseille

+33 (0)4 91 14 59 18

www.marseille.fr

 

From Cézanne to Matisse

Musée Granet,  Place Saint-Jean de Malte, Aix-en-Provence

+33 (0)4 42 52 88 32

www.museegranet-aixenprovence.fr

 

 

Originally published in the August-September 2013 issue of France Today.