Living in the year of Cézanne

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France -- Most museums take the anniversary of an artist's death as a chance to pull out a handful of his or her work stuck in the vaults and air them out for a few weeks. \nAix-en-Provence artist Paul Cézanne's ville maternelle, or birthplace, and the setting of his most famous paintings, is doing more than just a bit of airing out for the 100th anniversary of his death. \nThis petite town in southern France has gone Cézanne-zany, even laminating his scribbled signature on the side of the town buses to advertise the immense amount of Cézanne-related activities offered not just for a few weeks, but throughout the entire year. \nThe main event is "Cézanne en Provence," an exhibit being held at the Musée Granet, just around the corner from my apartment in the Quartier Mazarin. The exhibit ran from June 9 to Sept. 17, just long enough for every tourist to get in my way as I walked to class. Even before 9 a.m. the line at the billetrie, or ticket counter, is already two blocks long and growing. Between the amount of people wanting to see the exhibit and the amount of people who wander around the exhibit for hours, I've seen the billetrie close in the middle of the afternoon until further notice. \nIt's worth hustling through the crowds to see, though. With 116 of Cézanne's works on display, being without a tour guide or an audio headset can quickly become overwhelming. My personal favorite was the room of Mont Sainte-Victoire oil paintings, displayed in chronological order to display the evolution of his painting style through his different interpretations of Aix's most famous montagne, or mountain, Mont Sainte Victoire.\nOther events Aix offered were multiple musical and artistic tributes, as well as documentaries recounting the events of Cézanne's life. Now that school is starting, lectures discussing every topic possible about Cézanne are on the agenda. The Natural History Museum in Aix even has an exhibit of the evolution of Cézanne's beloved Mont Sainte-Victoire. You can wander outside of the city center and visit Cézanne's atelier, his childhood home Jas de Bouffan and favorite place by the sea, l'Estaque. \nEven though I am not the biggest Cézanne fan, it's amazing to spend an afternoon in a crowded museum looking at canvases and then exit the museum into that canvas. One of the defining characteristics of his work is his color, and until coming to Aix, I never would have believed that his color palette was realistic. But trust me, the sky really is that blue here.