18th -20th centuries · Ports, southern light and mountains

From Marseille to Nice, from Avignon to Sainte-Victoire, painters transform the South into a laboratory of light: Vernet describes the ports, Cézanne builds the mountain, Soutine twists the village and Marquet simplifies the sea.

Provence and the Mediterranean coast occupy a major place in the history of the European landscape. In the 18th century, Claude-Joseph Vernet described the ports of Marseille and Toulon with animated topographical precision of ships, workers and atmospheric effects. In the 19th century, the coast became a travel territory: French and foreign painters discovered clear light, jagged reliefs and urban life turned towards the sea. Cézanne constantly returns to the Sainte-Victoire mountain and the surroundings of Aix; he is no longer just looking for a recognizable view, but a construction where colorful planes, rocks, trees and viaduct find their balance. In Arles, Gauguin confronts the southern landscape with a more synthetic color. Morisot captures the seaside bustle of Nice, while the ports attract Marquet, Dufy and many modern painters. Utrillo isolates the white architecture of a church; Soutine undulates roads, houses and trees as if the ground itself were alive. This collection therefore crosses veduta, marine, impressionism, post-impressionism, fauvism and expressionism, without reducing the Mediterranean to a single blue: it shows a region of stone, work, mistral, dry vegetation and cities open to the horizon. The "Landscapes of Provence and Mediterranean" selection notably compares A landscape. Memories of Andalusia: the Mediterranean coast near Torremolinos and Slumbering sea, Mentone. His reading favors color.

The Mediterranean does not impose a single palette: it teaches each painter to measure the distance between stone, sky and water differently.