Editing Aix-en-Provence (section)

==Culture==
[[File:Rattle BPH-Rittershaus1-Wikipedia.jpg|thumb|right|Sir Simon Rattle conducting ''[[Das Rheingold]]'' in 2006]]

===Music===
Aix holds two significant musical events each year. These are:

====Festival d'Aix-en-Provence====
An important opera festival, the ''[[Aix-en-Provence Festival|Festival international d'Art Lyrique]]'', founded in 1948, now ranks with those in [[Bayreuth Festival|Bayreuth]], [[Salzburg Festival|Salzburg]] and [[Glyndebourne Festival Opera|Glyndebourne]]. The director until 2018 was [[Bernard Foccroulle]], organist and director of [[la Monnaie]] in Brussels. The festival takes place in late June and July each year. The main venues in Aix itself are the outdoor Théâtre de l'Archévêché in the former garden of the archbishop's palace, the recently restored 18th-century Théâtre du Jeu de Paume, and the newly built [[Grand Théâtre de Provence]]; operas are also staged in the outdoor Théâtre du Grand Saint-Jean outside Aix. Linked to the festival is the Académie européenne de musique, a summer school for young musicians with master classes by celebrated artists. Over the four-year period from 2006 until 2009, [[Sir Simon Rattle]]'s version of Wagner's [[Ring Cycle]] with the [[Berlin Philharmonic]] was performed at the Aix festival. The current director of the festival is [[Pierre Audi]].

====Musique dans la Rue====
This takes place each year in June to coincide with the national '[[Fête de la Musique]].' There is a week of classical, jazz, and popular concerts held in different street venues and courtyards in the city. Some of these events are held in the Conservatoire [[Darius Milhaud]], named in honour of the French composer, a native of Aix.

===Dance===
The dance company ''Ballet Preljocaj'' of the French dancer and choreographer [[Angelin Preljocaj]] has been located in Aix since 1996. In 2007 it took up residence in the [[Pavillon Noir]], a centre for dance performance, designed in 1999 by the architect [[Rudy Ricciotti]]. The centre is one of nineteen of its kind in France, designated ''Centre chorégraphique national''.

===European Capital of Culture===

Aix-en-Provence was part of [[Marseille-Provence 2013]], the year-long cultural festival when the region served as the [[European Capital of Culture]]. Aix hosted several major cultural events including one half of the Grand Atelier du Midi gala exhibition and an episode of the Révélations pyrotechnical performance. The city also unveiled major new cultural infrastructure to coincide with Marseille-Provence 2013, including the Darius Milhaud Conservatory designed by [[Kengo Kuma]].

===Museums and libraries===
[[File:Aix-Pavillon Vendôme-bjs180804-06.jpg|thumb|Vendôme Pavilion]]
[[File:François Marius Granet - La récolte des citrouilles à la Bastide de Malvalat.jpg|thumb|right|[[François Marius Granet|Granet]]'s "Pumpkin Harvest" at the [[Musée Granet]]]]
[[File:Aix-Atelier Cézanne-bjs180816-06.jpg|thumb|[[Cézanne's studio|Paul Cézanne's studio]] from 1902 until his 1906 death]]
Aix has several museums and galleries:
*Le Musée du Vieil Aix (Museum of Old Aix), housed in two period [[Hôtel particulier|"hôtels particuliers"]] and devoted to the history and provencal heritage of Aix.
*Le [[Museum d’Histoire Naturelle Aix en Provence|Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle]] (Natural History Museum).
*Le Musée de Tapisseries (Tapestry Museum), housed in the Archbishop's Palace and with a collection of tapestries and furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries.
*Le Musée Paul Arbaud (Faïence/Pottery).
*Le [[Musée Granet]], a museum devoted to painting, sculpture and the archeology of Aix.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museegranet-aixenprovence.fr/www/index5.html |title=Website of the Musée Granet |publisher=Museegranet-aixenprovence.fr |access-date=15 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100423165631/http://www.museegranet-aixenprovence.fr/www/index5.html |archive-date=23 April 2010 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It recently underwent significant restoration and reorganization, prior to the international exhibition in 2006 marking the centenary of [[Paul Cézanne|Cézanne]]'s death.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thearttribune.com/Reopening-of-the-Musee-Granet-in.html |title=Reopening of the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence |publisher=The Art Tribune |date=20 August 2007 |access-date=22 May 2009 |archive-date=3 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103001637/http://www.thearttribune.com/Reopening-of-the-Musee-Granet-in.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Due to lack of space, the large archeological collection, including many recent discoveries, will be displayed in a new museum, still in the planning stages. The museum contains major paintings by [[Jean-Dominique Ingres]] (among which the monumental "[[Jupiter and Thetis (Ingres)|Jupiter and Thetis]]"), an authentic self-portrait by [[Rembrandt]], and works by [[Anthony van Dyck]], [[Paul Cézanne]], [[Alberto Giacometti]] and [[Nicolas de Staël]]. In June 2011, the first part of the collection of the ''Fondation Jean et Suzanne Planque'' opened at the Musée Granet, containing over 180 artworks. This legacy of the Swiss painter, dealer and art collector [[Jean Planque]], a personal friend of [[Pablo Picasso]], has been donated to the city for an initial period of 15 years. The collection contains over 300 works of art, including paintings and drawings by [[Degas]], [[Renoir]]. [[Gauguin]], [[Monet]], Cézanne, [[Van Gogh]], Picasso, [[Pierre Bonnard]], [[Paul Klee]], [[Fernand Léger]], Giacometti and [[Dubuffet]]. The full collection will be housed in a specially constructed annex in the ''Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs'', situated nearby: the expected opening is in 2013.
*Le Pavillon de Vendôme, a 17th-century mansion housing permanent and touring art exhibitions.
*The [[Fondation Vasarely]], a gallery dedicated to the works of the Hungarian-born French [[abstract art|abstract painter]] [[Victor Vasarely]].
*Le Camp des Milles
*[[Cézanne's studio|L'atelier Cézanne]], the former studio of Paul Cézanne, now a museum, located in the northern outskirts of Aix. It has been preserved as it was at the time of the painter's death and contains many of his personal items and props used in his paintings.
*Jas de Bouffan, the house and grounds of Cézanne's father, now partially open to the public.

Prior to 1989 Aix had several libraries, for example in the Parc Jourdan and the Town Hall. In 1989, many of these were moved to the Méjanes, an old match factory.

In 1993, the "Cité du Livre" was opened around the library. This has media spaces for dance, cinema and music, and a training facility for librarians. Adjacent to the Cité du Livre are the Grand Théâtre de Provence and the Pavillon Noir (see above).

===Montagne Sainte-Victoire===
[[File:Paul Cézanne - Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley (Metropolitan Museum of Art).jpg|thumb|''[[Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley]]'', Paul Cézanne, 1882–1885]]
[[File:Montagne Sainte-Victoire, par Paul Cézanne 109.jpg|thumb|[[Mont Sainte-Victoire (Cézanne)|''Mont Sainte-Victoire'']], Paul Cézanne, 1904–1906]]
To the east of Aix rises [[Montagne Sainte-Victoire]] ({{convert|1,011|m|ft|abbr=off|disp=or}}), one of the landmarks of the Pays d'Aix. It is accessible from the centre of Aix by road or on foot, taking the wooded footpath of Escrachou Pevou to the [[plateau]] of Bibemus.<ref>
{{Cite journal|title=Montagne Ste-Victoire, Aix-en-Provence, Gardanne, Trets|series=La Carte de Randonnée, 1;25,000|volume=3244 ET|publisher=Institut Géographique National}}</ref> It dramatically overshadows the small dam built by [[Émile Zola]]'s father and was a favourite subject and haunt of [[Paul Cézanne]] throughout his lifetime. In the village of [[Le Tholonet]] on the precipitous southern side of Mont Sainte-Victoire, there is a [[windmill]] that he used, and beyond that a mountain hut, the ''refuge Cézanne'', where he liked to paint.

To the north, the mountain slopes gently down through woodland to the village of [[Vauvenargues, Bouches-du-Rhône|Vauvenargues]]. The [[Château of Vauvenargues]] overlooking the village was formerly occupied by the [[List of rulers of Provence|counts of Provence]] (including [[René of Anjou]]) and the Archbishops of Aix before it became the family home of the [[Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues|marquis de Vauvenargues]].<ref>[http://www.vauvenargues.org/index.php?P=91&action=afficher&type=art&menu=3 Mairie of Vauvenargues, History and heritage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200518195509/http://www.vauvenargues.org/index.php?P=91&action=afficher&type=art&menu=3 |date=18 May 2020 }} {{in lang|fr}}</ref> It was acquired by the Spanish artist [[Pablo Picasso]] in 1958, who was resident there from 1959 until 1962, when he moved to [[Mougins]]. He and his wife Jacqueline are buried in its grounds,<ref>{{Cite book|first=Patrick|last=O'Brian|publisher=Putnam|year=1976|title=Picasso: Pablo Ruiz Picasso : a Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/picassopabloruiz0000obri|url-access=registration|isbn=88-304-0863-8}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,945265,00.html |title=Pablo Picasso's Last Days and Final Journey|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=23 April 1973}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Château de Vauvenargues|author=Bruno Ely|publisher=ImageArt|year=2009|isbn=978-2-9534525-0-1}}</ref> which are not usually open to the public. From 2009 onwards, the château, which now belongs to Jacqueline's daughter Catherine Hutin, has been open to the public from June to September.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100413180944/http://chateau-vauvenargues.com/ Château of Vauvenargues]}}, official web site</ref>

Mont Sainte-Victoire has a complex network of paths, leading to the priory and ''Croix de Provence'' at the summit, to the large man-made reservoir of Bimont and to the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[viaduct]] above le Tholonet.