Mount Sainte-Victoire

Cézanne painted this view from a road leading east from Aix toward the mountain. Two umbrella pines anchor the foreground, and a branch at the left echoes the distant slope. He returned to Sainte-Victoire throughout his last two decades, changing the construction of space around a familiar subject.

The mountain's blue outline runs across the distance. Separate patches of color retain its broad volume without continuous smooth modeling.

Trees divide the left foreground. A branch from one pine extends across the sky, echoing the direction of the mountain slope.

Orange patches construct the near ground. Its color differs from the cool mountain, while brushstrokes remain visible in both areas.

Dark green foliage gathers at the right. Cézanne distributes dense and open areas across both sides of the view.

Pale blue sky appears above the ridge. The paint retains the same tangible surface found in the ground and trees.

Early in his career Cézanne worked alongside Pissarro and joined the Impressionist exhibitions. He later withdrew from the group. Returning to the area around Aix allowed him to develop his own relationship between color and spatial construction over many years.