0:00 Trees and Houses Near the Jas de Bouffan, 1885-86 12:08 Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley, 1882-85 The distinctive silhouette of Mont Saint-Victoire rises above the Arc River valley near the town of Aix. To paint this scene, Cézanne stood close to Montbriand, his sister’s property, at the top of the hill just behind her house; the wall of the neighboring farmhouse is barely visible. Cézanne sought to reveal the inner geometry of nature, "to make of Impressionism something solid and durable, like the art of museums." Indeed the railroad viaduct that cuts through this pastoral scene is evocative of a Roman aqueduct, recalling paintings by Nicolas Poussin. 24:15 The Gulf of Marseilles Seen from L’Estaque, ca. 1885 Cézanne enthused about the fishing village of L’Estaque to Pissarro in 1876: "It is like a playing card. Red roofs over the blue sea. . . . The sun is so terrific here that it seems to me as if the objects were silhouetted not only in black and white, but in blue, red, brown, and violet." Cézanne painted some twenty views of L'Estaque over the next decade, a dozen of them facing toward or across the gulf of Marseilles. In the distance of this painting, atop the hill to the right of the jetty, the towers of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde stand watch over the city of Marseilles. 36:18 Mont Sainte-Victoire, ca. 1902-6 Cézanne worked on this, one of the grandest pictures of Mont Sainte-Victoire, over a considerable length of time, enlarging the canvas in order to extend the view at the right and in the foreground. 48:25 View of the Domaine Saint-Joseph, late 1880s Despite the many areas of canvas left bare, this is one of the few paintings Cézanne signed and thus regarded as "finished." It shows a view of the Jesuit estate of Saint-Joseph, situated on a hill, the Colline des Pauvres, on the road between Aix and the village of Le Tholonet, an area beloved by the artist since his youth. This picture was the first by Cézanne to enter an American museum: the Metropolitan acquired it from the historic Armory Show in 1913, for the highest price of any work in the exhibition.
0:00 Trees and Houses Near the Jas de Bouffan, 1885-86
12:08 Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley, 1882-85
The distinctive silhouette of Mont Saint-Victoire rises above the Arc River valley near the town of Aix. To paint this scene, Cézanne stood close to Montbriand, his sister’s property, at the top of the hill just behind her house; the wall of the neighboring farmhouse is barely visible. Cézanne sought to reveal the inner geometry of nature, "to make of Impressionism something solid and durable, like the art of museums." Indeed the railroad viaduct that cuts through this pastoral scene is evocative of a Roman aqueduct, recalling paintings by Nicolas Poussin.
24:15 The Gulf of Marseilles Seen from L’Estaque, ca. 1885
Cézanne enthused about the fishing village of L’Estaque to Pissarro in 1876: "It is like a playing card. Red roofs over the blue sea. . . . The sun is so terrific here that it seems to me as if the objects were silhouetted not only in black and white, but in blue, red, brown, and violet." Cézanne painted some twenty views of L'Estaque over the next decade, a dozen of them facing toward or across the gulf of Marseilles. In the distance of this painting, atop the hill to the right of the jetty, the towers of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde stand watch over the city of Marseilles.
36:18 Mont Sainte-Victoire, ca. 1902-6
Cézanne worked on this, one of the grandest pictures of Mont Sainte-Victoire, over a considerable length of time, enlarging the canvas in order to extend the view at the right and in the foreground.
48:25 View of the Domaine Saint-Joseph, late 1880s
Despite the many areas of canvas left bare, this is one of the few paintings Cézanne signed and thus regarded as "finished." It shows a view of the Jesuit estate of Saint-Joseph, situated on a hill, the Colline des Pauvres, on the road between Aix and the village of Le Tholonet, an area beloved by the artist since his youth. This picture was the first by Cézanne to enter an American museum: the Metropolitan acquired it from the historic Armory Show in 1913, for the highest price of any work in the exhibition.