La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, 1995
GPO-0763
Stretchers, easels, primed canvas, halogen lamps
Four stretchers: 300 x 200 cm, 180 x 280 cm, 180 x 240 cm, 120 x 180 cm, two strechters 100 x 150 cm each, canvas 50 x 70 cm, overall dimensions 250 x 300 x 200 cm
Fonds national d’art contemporain, CNAP, Yvon Lambert donation to the French State, Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris. Long-term loan to the Collection Lambert, Avignon
Gift of Yvon Lambert to the French State, 2012, inventory no. FNAC 2013-03332
A primed canvas, propped up on two easels, represents the central core of the “mountain” consisting of five large stretchers leaning against each other, all of which atop a sixth stretcher lying on the floor. The canvas, which is placed perpendicular to the stretchers and the easels so that it “crosses” the mountain, is lit by two halogen lamps on the ground.
The work was made on the occasion of a group show dedicated to the theme of light, in a town in Southern France not far from the massif of Sainte-Victoire, one of the most famous subjects in the work of Paul Cézanne: hence the title, taken from the series of paintings depicting the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. In the artist’s own words: “What the mountain of stretchers says is that in this case Sainte-Victoire is not the Cézannian subject, but rather the whole mountain of working premises, of proofs, and of time that separate the artist from the fulfilled dimension of his work. It is a sort of lay Calvary for the artificer”.1
1 G. Paolini interviewed by A. Di Genova, "Citazioni d’artista", in Il manifesto (Rome), 10 March 1996.
Title from Paul Cézanne, series of paintings on the theme of the Mont Sainte-Victoire.
| 1995 | Baillargues, Aldebaran, lx, 31 May - 15 July, not repr. |
| 1996 | Rome, French Academy, Villa Medici, Giulio Paolini. Correspondances, 13 March - 28 April, cat. no. 18, col. repr., referred to in the text by A. Pacquement p. 19 (Italian) / 15-16 (French). |
| 2000 | Avignon, Hôtel de Caumont, Collection Lambert en Avignon, from 27 June, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 297, col. repr. p. 67. |
| 2003 | Aosta, Tour Fromage, Teatro Romano, La Montagna ricreata, 19 July - 7 September, repr. pp. 32-33 and on cover (exhibition view Rome 1996), referred to in the text by G. Sangiuliano p. 15; in the general catalogue of the event titled “Da cima a fondo”: cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 186, entry by C.G. Sangiuliano, col. repr. pp. 144-145 (detail), 152-153. |
| 2006-07 | Aix en Provence, Galerie d’art du Conseil Général des Bouches-du-Rhône, Il faut rendre à Cézanne ce qui appartient à Cézanne, 5 October - 31 December, touring to: Avignon, Collection Lambert en Avignon, 23 February - 16 May 2007, col. repr. p. 79, entry by E. Mézil pp. 76-78. |
| 2010 | Vence, Château de Villeneuve, Fondation Émile Hugues, De Matisse à Barceló. La Collection Lambert en Avignon, 12 June - 31 October 2010, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 109, col. repr. p. 59 (exhibition view Rome 1996, with incorrect indication of the exhibition date), referred to in the text by E. Mézil p. 55. |
| 2024 | Marseille, Mucem, Passions partagées. De Basquiat à Edith Piaf, la Collection Lambert au Mucem, 17 April - 23 September. |
| • | G. Paolini in lx, exhibition catalogue, Baillargues, Aldebaran, 1995. |
| • | G. Paolini in the interview with A. Di Genova, “Citazioni d’artista”, in Il manifesto (Rome), 10 March, 1996. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. La voce del pittore – Scritti e interviste 1965-1995, edited by M. Disch (Lugano: ADV Publishing House, 1995), repr. no. 3 (exhibition view Rome 1996). |
| • | XLVII Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, exhibition catalogue, Venice, La Biennale di Venezia (Milan: Electa, 1997), vol. Futuro Presente Passato, col. repr. p. 500 (exhibition view Rome 1996). |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), col. repr. p. 323 (exhibition view Rome 1996). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 763 pp. 774-775, col. repr. (exhibition view Rome 1996). |
| • | Une histoire intime de l’art: Yvon Lambert, une collection, une donation, un lieu (Paris: Éditions Dilecta, 2023), cited in the checklist of the Yvon Lambert donation p. 434, not repr. |
