The Granet museum has two faces, the first a collection of French, Italian and northern European paintings from the 14th to 19th centuries, and sculpture. The second, housed in a separate building a few blocks removed, exhibits about 70 pieces of  20th-century art, with works by Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian and more. The first thing we encountered was the gallery of busts.

Vauvenargues & Granet. In 1949 the Museum of Aix-en-Provence, took the name of painter François-Marius Granet, one of its most generous benefactors.

Charles Michel De L Epee

Achilles

As seems typical, much of the art has a religious influence, often, with very disturbing themes, like these, the stuff from which nightmares are made.  Abusive husbands, cheating boyfriend, obnoxious customer service rep? Note to self, buy flowers for Amy.

Salome bearing the head of Saint John the Baptist, 1645 and Judith with the head of Holofernes by Massimo Stanzione, 1645

After coming across those two paintings I decided to stick with the more benign Italian works.  

Paul Cezanne did two versions of “The Kiss of the Muse,”  *1859) the first on the left

Giraud’s sculpture of Achilles and Ossian singing his verses by Paul Duqueylar, 1800

Le Cloître de la chartreuse Sainte Marie des Anges à Rome by Granet, 1849

St John the Baptist as a boy, by Battistello, 1625 Caracciolo

St. Anthony the Great, by Jose de Ribera, 1838

After visiting the Musee Granet we headed to the museum’s other gallery with its contemporary collection. 

2 pieces by Picasso

Man with a Hat, Alex Kosta

Portrait of Jean Planque, Alex Kosta

Claude Garache

Vanity, 1956 by Peno Penev

Alex Kosta

As is always the case when I do these features on museums, this gives you a tiny taste of what is on exhibit.The Granet houses over 12,000 works and masterpieces in its collections, making it one of the most prestigious museums in France.