Guggenheim and Gastronomie

Saturday, May 18, Aix--We began the day knowing exactly what we wanted to do:  Visit the musée at the Hôtel de Caumont where 50 pieces from the New York Guggenheim Museum were installed to celebrate the collection of modern art by Justin Thannhauser and his father from Manet to Picasso.  The Jewish family, originally from Munich, then Berlin, then Amsterdam and finally New York, surviving the Holocaust, had collected the art over a period of almost 100 years.   Solomon Guggenheim purchased the collection from Justin Thannhauser who did not have any surviving children.

L'École Henri IV

Picasso--Blue Lobster, Black Cat

The 50 pieces are a broad and excellent representation of the progress of modern art from the impressionist work of Monet and Cezanne through the cubism of Picasso to the representational work of Matisse and other moderns.  In many cases the works in the show, particularly from Van Gogh and Cezanne, were painted in Provence and are shown here for the first time since their completion.  Seeing the entire run of modern art from the 19th through the mid-20th century was fascinating.  It capped our visit because we had seen where Cezanne had painted, we had visited the countryside where Van Gogh had painted and we walked the very street where Cezanne had attended school with his good friend Émile Zola.  The school was founded by Henri IV in the 17th century and is a block away from the Caumont.  It’s amazing that two illustrious Frenchmen, one Jewish and one Roman Catholic, were schoolboys together in Aix. (Even more for us since we have friends and have visited the island in the Seine near Paris where Zola had his summer home.)

We were particularly taken by a gift from Picasso to Justin Thannhauser about 1960 when he married again after his first wife died, a picture of a black cat and a blue lobster, supposed to represent Thannhauser, and his new wife Hilde. 

The museum is the Quartier Mazarin where Cardinal Mazarin summered, installed in a magnificent 18th century mansion now restored.

What a garden!  What a guy!

For the first time since arriving in Europe we felt raindrops and had to use our parapluies.  We meandered the medieval town, both looking in shop windows (clothes are pricey) and searching for cheap lunch.  We settled on Pita Place, apparently Canadian, where excellent pitas were rolled.  Both of us had chicken with varied vegetables stuffed into a pita.  

We made a reservation during the afternoon at Le Bouddoir, a pleasant looking French restaurant after thinking Vietnamese.  In the end we went for the risotto and saumon tartare.

Aix at night

Le Bouddoir has both an inside and outside seating.  Though the outside was heated, we opted for inside to avoid the few smokers we've seen.  No smoking inside.  Outside, OK.   

Our meal, lovely fresh salmon on avocado, then risotto with cream, parmesan and cuttlefish.  We coupled this with a Coteaux d'Aix en Provence Chateau de Beaupré 2015 red, a mixture of cabinet sauvignon and syrah, which though full and almost a Bordeaux-like wine, went well with both the salmon and the cuttlefish.  We finished sharing a lovely warmed cognac!

The local bakery

Fast--1h 20m

Today being Saturday, we have ventured to a laundromat.   We can say one thing:  the French here in Aix (and nearly everywhere) are extremely friendly.  Most try to speak English if John struggles with his French--his vocabulary does not extend the washers, detergents and button pushing!  Even bus-drivers  help with the validation of bus tickets and waiters sometimes ask for help with their English.  What a difference from 35 years ago when virtually no one would try to speak English...of course tourism is one of the major industries of Provence.