Mont Sainte-Victoire

mont sainte-victoire - Paul Cezanne

Paul Cezanne, 1839-1906, was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter who is credited with influencing a transition from the Impressionist movement to the Cubist movement. While he did paint many figurative works [pictures with people], he is best known for his landscapes and still life paintings. Cezanne was born on January 19th, 1839 in Aix-en- Provence. At the age of 10, Paul began to study drawing at Saint Joseph School. In 1852, Cezanne continued his schooling at College Bourbon, where he met and became friends with Emile Zola who would one day become a very famous French writer. From 1858-1861, following his fatherʼs wishes, Cezanne studied law, while continuing his drawing lessons.

While Cezanne spent some time in Paris working alongside many other famous Impressionist painters, he prefered the Southern countryside in France. This is where he created some of his most famous landscapes.

Mont Sainte-Victoire is a mountain in Southern France near Aix-en- Provence. Cezanne painted the scene near his home sixty different times. He was fascinated by the rugged architectural forms in the mountains of Provence and painted the scene during different seasons and from many different angles. He used blocks of color to achieve a new spacial effect known as ʻflat depthʼ to capture the unusual geological forms of the mountains.

Cezanneʼs work illustrates a strong understanding of design, color, composition, and draftsmanship. He used planes of color and small brushstrokes that build up to form complex scenes. His paintings emphasize the geometric forms of cylinders, cubes and spheres which simplify the subject matter. Cezanne fills the canvas with shapes defined by bold, contrasting colors and a complex grid of horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. He used his brushstrokes like building blocks to construct the scene.

questions:

-Why do you think Paul Cezanne painted Mont Sainte-Victoire 60 times?

-Bring in other versions of Mont Sainte-Victoire painted by Cezanne to compare and contrast with one another.

-Compare Cezanneʼs Mont Sainte-Victoire series with Katsushika Hokusaiʼs Mount Fuji block print series [we have one print in the drawer, #8]. Discuss how each artist repeated the image of a mountain range

-Does the image look realistic [like a photograph] or abstracted [distorted or changed]? Show a print of a realistic landscape [like #17 Niagara Falls] to compare with Mont Sainte-Victoire.

-How does Cezanne create a sense of depth in his painting of Mont Sainte- Victoire?

-Discuss how Cezanne used geometric shapes to describe the mountains/ landscape. Compare to Picassoʼs later Cubist work, The Three musicians [print #13].

activities:

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