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Cezanne family furious at new Provence railway

Philippe Cézanne, 68, a retired modern art expert, said his great grandfather would have been "horrified" to learn that the national rail operator was considering erecting an ultra-fast track at the foot of Mount Sainte-Victoire, which the post-impressionist painted 87 times throughout his life and which has come to symbolise his genius.

"I feel under attack," Mr Cézanne told The Daily Telegraph.

"I understand that modernity obliges a certain number of things but we need to preserve the area.

"The soul of Cézanne is in these hills. It's still quite magical, and all the foreigners who come to the region are surprised to find the landscapes as the artist saw them," he said.

Mr Cézanne, who is guardian of his illustrious forebear's "moral rights", added that the notion that the fast TGV line would cut through the picturesque area, with its pines, cypresses and red-tiled roofs, was tantamount to "a bloody sword stroke across a landscape cherished by my great grandfather"...

Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)