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Lot Essay
This work will be included in the forthcoming online catalogue raisonné of Paul Cézanne's watercolours, under the direction of Walter Feilchenfeldt, David Nash and Jayne Warman.
'There are two things in painting, vision and mind, and they should work in unison. As a painter, one must try to develop them harmoniously: vision, by looking at nature; mind, by ruling one’s senses logically, thus providing the means of expression. This is now my aim.’
Cézanne, quoted in F. Elgar, Cézanne, London, 1969, p. 85.
The present landscape, executed between 1879-1880, probably depicts a motif in Northern France, most likely Melun, as suggested by Rewald. In a splendid variety of green nuances, Cézanne depicts a spacious view of fields, with a small village, framed by trees, which give the scene an exquisite sense of perspective. The powerful, yet scrupulous diagonal strokes of the thicker foliage at the right, bear familiarities from the style of the oil paintings of this period.
It can be argued that Paysage (environs de Melun?) bears a similar light and brushstrokes in the foliage to the celebrated yet unusual painting Le Pont de Maincy, dated 1879-80 (Rewald, no. 436). In the oil, Cézanne’s 'constructive stroke' appears in a particularly consistent and tight weave that becomes positively associated with what could be called the artist’s ‘phase at Melun’ (J. Rewald, The Paintings of Paul Cézanne, 1996, p. 291). Similarly, in the present watercolour, one can almost feel the air moving through the space, in the leaves at the right, executed with a number of regular diagonal strokes.
Once in the collection of Burt Lancaster, Los Angeles, Paysage (environs de Melun?) was acquired by Eric and Salome Estorick in March 1960.
'There are two things in painting, vision and mind, and they should work in unison. As a painter, one must try to develop them harmoniously: vision, by looking at nature; mind, by ruling one’s senses logically, thus providing the means of expression. This is now my aim.’
Cézanne, quoted in F. Elgar, Cézanne, London, 1969, p. 85.
The present landscape, executed between 1879-1880, probably depicts a motif in Northern France, most likely Melun, as suggested by Rewald. In a splendid variety of green nuances, Cézanne depicts a spacious view of fields, with a small village, framed by trees, which give the scene an exquisite sense of perspective. The powerful, yet scrupulous diagonal strokes of the thicker foliage at the right, bear familiarities from the style of the oil paintings of this period.
It can be argued that Paysage (environs de Melun?) bears a similar light and brushstrokes in the foliage to the celebrated yet unusual painting Le Pont de Maincy, dated 1879-80 (Rewald, no. 436). In the oil, Cézanne’s 'constructive stroke' appears in a particularly consistent and tight weave that becomes positively associated with what could be called the artist’s ‘phase at Melun’ (J. Rewald, The Paintings of Paul Cézanne, 1996, p. 291). Similarly, in the present watercolour, one can almost feel the air moving through the space, in the leaves at the right, executed with a number of regular diagonal strokes.
Once in the collection of Burt Lancaster, Los Angeles, Paysage (environs de Melun?) was acquired by Eric and Salome Estorick in March 1960.