Paul Cézanne Mont St Victoire

Paul Cézanne was a French Post-Impressionist painter. Cézanne is best recognized for two famous landscape works, his still-lifes with apples, and his landscapes of Mont Saint-Victoire. 

Mont Sainte-Victoire seen from Bellevue, by Paul Cezanne

Mont Sainte-Victoire seen from Bellevue is a landscape composition dating from around 1886. The composition reveals Cézanne's idea to render organization and transparency to natural paintings, without presenting the visible realism of Impressionism art.

Both the light and the colors of the painting provide an original design that is not forced however still focus on the Mont Sainte-Victoire.

The enormity of the space due to the wide valley in the background gives the observer the impression of continuous passage in this landscape masterpiece.

Furthermore, the elevated height of the central tree opens up the vertical dimension in the painting. Allowing the observer to get a sense of the view that Cézanne had when he painted this composition. The painting of Mount Saint-Victoire is held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

So where is Montagne Sainte-Victoire?

The Montagne Sainte-Victoire is a mountain in southern France, close to the Aix-en-Provence.

Between 1902 and 1906 Cézanne painted various scenes of Mont Sainte-Victoire in both oil and watercolor. Cézanne purchased an acre of land near Mont Sainte-Victoire in 1901 and by the end of the year, he had established an art studio on his estate.

From there, he would take his painting materials and hike uphill to a point where he had a comprehensive view of Mont Sainte-Victoire and start painting. Cézanne formed a special connection with this landscape and painted many renditions of it. This is just one of over 60 paintings of Mount Saint Victoire.

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Paul Cezanne Mont St Victoire Analysis

Cézanne uses chunks of color rather than smoothly mixing colors, creating a surface, where each bit of paint contributes to the whole composition.

Cézanne’s painting technique of the landscape in Mont St Victoire could be recognized as the start to the era of Modernism: the structured lateral brushstrokes that separate the setting of the painting. The painting simply demonstrates the way Cézanne sought to portray the world of reality.

The mountain is the main focus in the painting and the buildings in the foreground have been painted using geometric shapes, all the while holding the observer's attention on the landscape.

Mont Sainte-Victoire with Large Pine, by Paul Cézanne

Mont Sainte-Victoire Style of Post-Impressionism

Paul Cezanne is usually grouped with Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, who all are Post-Impressionist artists.

Paul Cezanne started his art profession exhibiting his work with Post-Impressionist painters in Paris. He went back to the area that he grew up in, in the South of France later in his life. The Mont St Victoire painting was produced in the last few years of his life.

Cezanne would pass away after he completed this version Mont St Victoire. Although this composition still doesn't seem fully completed because of its strong geometric brushstrokes and the trees that appear to be half-formed. Another example is the mountain which seems to be in the process of developing.

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