Tate is to drop the accent on Paul Cézanne when it opens its anticipated blockbuster exhibition on 5 October (until 12 March 2023). The move follows a decision by the artist’s grandson Philippe, who argues that although the name normally carried an accent in Paris at the time, it did not in the artist’s native Provence.
Last November, London’s Courtauld Gallery, which holds the UK’s greatest group of paintings by the artist, grappled with the dilemma of whether or not to include an accent in its labels, but concluded that visitors expected the traditional spelling. A Tate spokesperson says that dropping the accent is “a small reminder of how we can continue to look at Cezanne afresh”.
