Mont Sainte-Victoire By Paul Cezanne

Paul Cezanne was born at Aix-en-Provence in France in 1839 to a wealthy family, allowing him the financial security needed to study both Law and Art early in his life. At the age of ten Cezanne was sent to the Saint Joseph school, where he first studied drawing. Cezanne’s father, a banker, sent him to the Collège Bourbon in 1852 to study to become a lawyer, but Cezanne committed his life to art and moved to Paris in 1861. Eventually, Cezanne would receive his father’s large inheritance, which would permit him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Although he was a contemporary of impressionist painters, particularly Camille Pissarro, an older painter who introduced Cezanne to the impressionist style of light, he was not accepted by impressionist art critics in Paris, and soon retreated back to his native Aix-en-Provence. For most of his life Cezanne was not a famous painter, and spent most of his time isolated from the art world.

At home in Aix-en-Provence, Cezanne began what has become arguably his most famous works, a series of paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire. The mountain was visible from his home, and became one of his favorite subjects. The series includes over 60 paintings, all painted in the Post-Impressionist style. Cezanne was fascinated by the rugged style of the mountain, and used thick layers of paint and bold blocks of color to try and accurately convey what he saw. Cezanne also relied heavily on angles and geometry in his depictions of the Mont Sainte-Victoire; something that he felt was crucial in painting landscapes.

His focus on heavy colors, distinct angles and “flat-depth,” which was a new spatial technique used specifically in the Mont Sainte-Victoire paintings marks a clear break from his impressionist contemporaries, many of whom were still painting over-dramatized works in the Romantic vein.

The Mont Sainte-Victoire paintings marked a turning point for both Cezanne as an artist and Post-Impressionism. Although after the completion of this series Cezanne retreated even further into his own world and began painting increasingly dark paintings, the Mont Sainte-Victorie collection gained him respect among art critics and young artists alike. Post-impressionism became a coveted style, and many artists looked to Cezanne for inspiration and guidance.