Provençal Landscape

Paul Cézanne's Provençal landscape subjects of 1887 represent his sustained investigation of the terrain around Aix-en-Provence — a landscape he returned to throughout his career but with increasing systematic intensity in his mature period. The specific character of Provençal light, geology, and vegetation provided him with subjects quite different from his Paris and Normandy subjects: the limestone outcrops, the umbrella pines, the warm ochre earth, and the intense southern sun all demanded adjustment of his method. His Provençal landscapes were among the primary subjects through which he developed his mature systematic approach to pictorial structure.

Cézanne builds the Provençal landscape through his characteristic parallel, faceted brushstrokes that simultaneously model three-dimensional form and establish the two-dimensional surface's rhythm. His palette for the Provence subjects is warmer and more saturated than his northern work — the ochres and siennas of the limestone terrain, the blue-greens of maritime pines, and the vivid sky blue of the southern atmosphere. His compositional organization finds the underlying geometric structure within the landscape's apparent complexity.