Arbres et rochers

Arbres et rochers (Trees and Rocks) at the Dixon Gallery in Memphis, dated around 1900, belongs to the late landscape series in which Cézanne investigated the rocky terrain and woodland of the Bibémus quarry and the slopes of Mont Sainte-Victoire. The combination of trees and rocks was among his most productive motifs in this period — the vertical organic forms of trees against the horizontal or angled planes of exposed rock creating a structural tension that his parallel-stroke method could analyze with particular intensity.

The interplay between the organic forms of trees and the geometric character of rock faces is Cézanne's central formal interest here — tree trunks rendered with curved strokes, rock surfaces with straighter, more angular marks. The palette of grey-greens, ochres, and warm pinks is characteristic of the Bibémus quarry landscape in Provençal light.