The pool at Jas de Bouffan

The pool at Jas de Bouffan, in the Hermitage Museum, depicts the ornamental basin on the grounds of the Jas de Bouffan estate near Aix-en-Provence that Cézanne's father had purchased in 1859 and which remained in the family until 1899. Cézanne returned to the estate constantly throughout his career, finding in its garden, chestnut alley, and pool subjects for dozens of paintings. The pool, surrounded by the formal geometry of the estate's garden design, offered him a combination of architectural structure and natural reflection that suited his developing approach to pictorial construction.

The pool's still surface creates a near-perfect mirror of the surrounding trees and sky, which Cézanne renders with horizontal strokes that distinguish the reflection from the upright trees beside the water. The garden geometry — stone edges, symmetrical planting — gives the composition a structural clarity unusual in his more informally organized landscapes.