Le pont de l'île Machefer à Saint-Maur-des-Fossés

This 1895 canvas of a bridge at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés — a suburban town on the Marne near Paris — represents an unusual departure from Cézanne's Provençal focus. He painted relatively few northern French landscapes in his mature years, preferring the light and geology of his native Aix. The île Machefer bridge painting, now in the Pushkin Museum, shows his landscape method applied to a different topography: the flatter, greener terrain of the Île-de-France, with its cooler light. Despite the unfamiliar landscape, his constructive approach remains consistent — building the scene through layered, directional brushwork rather than atmospheric suggestion.

The bridge structure provides a geometric anchor in the composition, its stone arch reflected in the river below. Cézanne renders the northern landscape in cooler greens and blues than his Provençal work. The water reflection is built through horizontal strokes that contrast with the more varied marks of the foliage and sky.