Château Noir du Tholonet, Neo-Gothic bastide in Le Tholonet, France.

Château Noir du Tholonet is a château-bastide built between 1830 and 1860 in a medieval Neo-Gothic style, made of ochre-yellow Provençal stone from the nearby Bibémus quarries. It consists of two buildings set at a right angle, with pointed arched windows, at the foot of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. Its main facade overlooks the Route Cézanne, and the structure sits half-hidden in a park of pine, olive and cork oak.

The bastide was built between 1830 and 1860 in two wings set at a right angle, using ochre-yellow stone from the nearby Bibémus quarries, at the foot of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. Local legends surround its origins, but no medieval documentation is recorded. Paul Cézanne rented a room there between 1888 and 1904 to store his painting equipment.

Paul Cézanne painted this location repeatedly between 1888 and 1904, renting a shed on the grounds to store his materials. The artist found the landscape and architecture endlessly compelling and visited often during his time in the region.

The château is private and not open to visitors, so plan to see it only from the Route Cézanne, which runs between Aix-en-Provence and the Sainte-Victoire mountain via Le Tholonet. The main facade overlooks this road, and the wooded park with its pines, olive trees and cork oaks surrounds the building.

The château's ochre stone came from the Bibémus quarries at the foot of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. In the park, mill remains, a millstone, a cistern-well and stone posts stand tangled among the trunks of pines, olive trees and cork oaks. Cézanne never bought the estate: no letter or document supports the claim, according to a 2025 book drawing on his great-grandson's testimony.