Musee Granet (Granet Museum), Aix-en-Provence (must see)

Henri Pointier, the curator of the Museum of Aix from 1892 to 1925, despised Cezanne. He is said to have declared Cézanne would only be shown there "Over my dead body." Mr. Pointier proved to be prophetic. He died in 1949, and the hunt was on for works by Cezanne. In the same year, the Aix museum took the name of one of its most generous benefactors, the local painter François-Marius Granet.

The Musee Granet (Granet Museum) first opened in a building once the property of the priory of Saint Jean-de-Malte. Today it still shares a garden with the church. In 2009 it mounted an exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of Cezanne's death, absolutely a painter's revenge.

The museum contains paintings by Jean-Dominique Ingres, including the massive masterpiece "Jupiter and Thetis." There is a self-portrait by Rembrandt and other works by Van Dyck, Cezanne, Giacometti, and de Stael.

In June 2011, the Foundation Jean et Suzanne Planque opened a show at the Granet Museum. It contained over 180 works, all the legacy of the great Swiss collector Jean Planque. The collection has a run of 15 years at the museum.

The complete collection will number more than 300 works of art. Degas, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Picasso, Bonnard, Klee, Giacometti, and Dubuffet will be there. The show is housed in a special annex in the Chapel of the White Penitents.