The sale of the 1895 painting “The Card Player”s has almost doubled the previous record-setter, Jackson Pollack’s “No. 5″, 1948, which fetched $140 million in 2006.

Cézanne’s painting was done in Aix-en-Provence in the South of France. It shows Provençal peasants immersed in smoking their pipes and playing cards. The two cardplayers are focused their card playing, eyes cast downward, intent on the game at hand.

Cézanne adapted a motif from 17th century Dutch and French genre painting which often depicted card games with rowdy, drunken gamblers in taverns, replacing them instead with stone-faced tradesmen in a more simplified setting. Whereas previous paintings of the genre had illustrated heightened moments of drama, Cézanne’s portraits have been noted for their lack of drama! Other than an unused wine bottle in the two-player versions, there is an absence of drink and money, which were prominent fixtures of the 17th century genre.

The painting that was sold was one of five versions of paintings of card players. The models for the paintings were local farmhands, some of whom worked on the Cézanne family estate, the Jas de Bouffan. Each scene is depicted as one of quiet, still concentration; the men look down at their cards rather than each other, perhaps the cards being their sole means of communication outside of work. One critic described the scenes as “human still life”, while another speculated the men’s intense focus on their game mirrors that of the painter’s absorption in his art.

In his painting’s Cezanne captured both spatial depth and pattern at once, earning him the stature, according to Matisse, as “a benevolent God of painting.”

In 2010, Qatar opened its Arab Museum of Modern Art, and the Qatar National Museum, currently closed for renovation but reopen in 2014. That’s where this Cézanne painting could end up,  perhaps alongside some famous artworks by Warhol, Rothko and Hirst that the Qataris have also been snapping up in an art buying spree!

There are some excellent Christmas Festivals and Markets throughout the South of France to enjoy at this time of the year!

Get into the festive spirit shopping at the Christmas markets that are decorated with garlands of pine and twinkling fairy lights. There are huts and stalls selling wine, chocolates, sweets, cakes, pastries, cheese, patés other foods. They also have colourful Christmas decorations, hand crafted and locally produced goods and Christmas gifts…so much to choose from!

There are also plenty of Christmas festivals, funfairs, spectacular lighting shows, concerts and entertainment! Christmas is a magical time in Southern France !

Here’s some of what’s on…

Enjoy the festivities!

These are small colourful hand-made Christmas figures part of a typical French Nöel crèche (Christmas Nativity scene), made in the South of France. The idea was started by an artist in Marseille and quickly spread through Provence and Languedoc Roussillon.

The traditional nativity scene includes figures representing the characters from local village life such as the baker, the fisherman, the butcher, the blind man, the shepherd, the parish priest, the flower seller, the storyteller and the chestnut seller etc etc! Typical santon scenes include musicians and dancers who dance the farandole with joined hands.

There are two types of Provençal santons: santons d’argile (hand-painted clay figures) and santons habilles (figures dressed in real clothes and carrying real baskets, lavender, fishing nets etc).

Since 1803, each December, Santons are sold at the Foire des Santonniers in Marseille. Aubagne has a two-day fair, Biennale de l’Art Santonnier. Arles also has its well-known Salon International des Santonniers. The Musée du Santon in Marseille has an interesting show of 18th and 19th century Santons.

Most towns have Santons in their Christmas markets and fairs - in fact these “little saints” are everywhere in Southern France during the festive season!

Joyeux Noël !

Photos of the November flooding in the Languedoc, South of France:

floods

Nov 2011

Was Van Gogh Murdered? A new book says yes…

“Van Gogh: The Life” is written by Pulitzer winners Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. The book is 900-plus pages of intensely researched biographical detail about an artist who introduced a style of painting that changed art forever.

In one chapter a new theory on the death of Vincent Van Gogh emerges: that he did not commit suicide and was in fact shot by a teenage boy, named Rene Secretan, who was spending the summer at a villa nearby. Steven Naifeh states in an interview “it was either an accident, or a deliberate act”.

The authors talked about this on a program which aired this week:

Van Gogh: The Life…

This book “is an exquisitely detailed, compellingly readable, and ultimately heartbreaking portrait of creative genius Vincent Van Gogh…his impetus for turning to brush and canvas; and his move to Provence, where in a brief burst of incandescent productivity he painted some of the best-loved works in Western art”