Chapel of the White Penitents - Jean Planque Collection
Before being a collector, Jean Planque was a painter. A painter irresistibly drawn to light. The proof is that, as soon as he earns his first pennies, he tries to go to Aix-en-Provence, at the foot of the Saint Victoire mountain, where Cézanne, his absolute model, had set up his easel.
During stays on the premises, Jean Planque realizes many landscapes of the Saint Victoire mountain. He favors the loan of certain watercolors to the Granet museum then directed by Louis Malbos. This collaboration continued in the following years and culminated in the attempt, alas aborted, to have Picasso give the Musée Granet a view of L'Estaque in Marseille by Cézanne.
Over the years and exhibitions, in particular Cézanne in Provence in 2006 and Picasso Cézanne in 2009, the museum opened up to modern and contemporary art. It is in this context that the Community of the Pays d'Aix signed in 2010 with the Jean and Suzanne Planque Foundation of Lausanne, chaired by Michel Pfulg, an agreement for the deposit for 15 years of the works brought together by Jean Planque so that they can be stored and permanently displayed.