The Bare Trees at Jas de Bouffan

This circa 1880 canvas of the bare chestnut trees at Jas de Bouffan in winter is a companion to the Minneapolis winter chestnut tree painting — both works exploring the structural character of the estate's trees in their leafless winter state. The Japan National Museum holds this version, one of the remarkable dispersals of Cézanne's work across the world's great collections. Winter tree studies were important exercises in pure structure for Cézanne: without leaves, the branching system is fully revealed as an architectural phenomenon, allowing him to study natural geometry before the complexity of full foliage obscured it.

The bare tree trunks and their branching systems are painted as dark linear structures against pale winter sky. Cézanne's parallel strokes build both the tree forms and the surrounding ground. The restrained palette of grays, ochres, and blacks focuses attention on the geometric branching patterns.