Oil on canvas
Unlike the expansive vistas often seen in landscape paintings, Cézanne's Pines and Rocks is a tightly framed, compressed view of nature. Low bushes and massive boulders form a bulwark against the forest, and a vertical line of pine trees extends upward, obscuring the sky beyond. Though the trees and rocks firmly structure the scene, Cézanne also infused Pines and Rocks with a sense of airiness and movement. Glimpses of bare, unfinished canvas peek through the dense weave of brushstrokes.
At first glance, Cézanne's palette seems limited to blues, greens, and browns, but a closer look reveals endless variations of colors, including shades of yellows, violets, and reds. At close range the painting appears nearly abstract—a dancing network of innumerable brushstrokes, some parallel, others looser and more rapidly applied. Stepping back, these varied marks coalesce into a shimmering effect that Cézanne called "vibrations of light."
2011.
Provenance Research Project
This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.
Ambroise Vollard, Paris
Cornelis Hoogendijk, Amsterdam
Paul Rosenberg, Paris (1920)
Galerie Barbazanges, Paris
Marius de Zayas, New York
Lillie P. Bliss, New York;
The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1934). Lillie P. Bliss Collection
Per Feilchenfeldt, Walter, Jayne Warman, and David Nash. "Pins et rochers (Fontainebleau?)”, c. 1897 (FWN 323)." The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. https://www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=880 (retrieved Mar 21, 2022)
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Paul Cézanne
French, 1839–1906 25 works onlineThroughout his decades-long career, he dedicated himself to this task, continuously experimenting with his materials and techniques in an effort to record his sensations on paper and canvas.
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French Landscapes and Interiors
Gallery 501The late 19th century in France was an era of rapid change: the emergence of mass media, new and faster forms of transportation, urban expansion of cities like Paris, and developments in industry.
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