Humanities Engagement 2

Painting and Photography

Option 6: Practice Criticism

P. 25. FIGURE 2-4

Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire. 1886–

1887. Oil on canvas, 231⁄2 3 281⁄2 inches.

The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

1. Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire

(Figure 2-4). How many colors does Cézanne use in this painting? Which color is dominant?

Which figure in the painting is most dominant? How do the most important lines in the

painting direct your vision? Describe the way your eye moves through the painting. How

does Cézanne use line and color to direct your attention?

The colors are basically analogous, consisting of green, yellow, orange, black and blue. The

dominant color is green and the most dominate figure is the mountain – Mont Sainte-Victoire.

The most important lines in the painting are the road and the viaduct. The eye is led along the

road to stop at a building on the left that is integral to the significance of this place, then jumps

across the patchwork to the right where the viaduct leads us to the center of the mountain before

going up the mountain itself.  Cézanne use line by first using the tree trunks and the branches to

frame the view. He also used warm and cool colors in juxtaposition in order to create movement

or undulation by their advancing and receding nature.  The warm, more intense orange in the

foreground becomes cooler as we move higher on the plane – giving the visual perception of

depth and distance, ultimately directing us to the beauty of the mountain.

2. Identify outlines in Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire (Figure 2-4). There seem to be no

outlines drawn around the small bushes in the foreground. Yet we see these bushes as

separate objects. How can this be?

The outlines that can be identified in Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire are the ones of the tree

trunks and branches, the mountains, the houses, as well as the roads or pathways along the field.

There seem to be no outlines drawn around the small bushes in the foreground, yet we see these

bushes as separate object because they are formed by small juxtaposed greenish-blue planes that

vary slightly in their tinting. Cézanne hatched these planes by brushstrokes that give varying

textures. Cézanne also used shading from the center of the planes to the perimeters to create a

strong sense of volume with density. We see those small bushes with no distinct outlines as

separate objects, because Cézanne understood that colors and textures meet and create

impressions of line which he so effectively demonstrated in his painting of Mont Sainte-

Victoire.1

3. Why did Cézanne put the two trees in the foreground at the left and right edges? Why did he

have them cut off by the frame? Why did he portray the trees as if trembling?

The two trees in the foreground at the left and right of Cézanne’s painting are not the emphasis

of the scene because the subject matter of the painting is the mountain. The trees being cut off

by the frame creates more emphasis on the subject matter – they provide a partial frame around

the key feature of the painting: Mont Sainte-Victoire. Each aspect of the painting’s composition

should help bring forth the energy and grandiose of Mont Sainte-Victoire, which is the reason

1
Martin and Jacobus, 2019. pg. 74
why Cézanne portrayed the trees as if trembling. The power of the mountain seems to roll down

the valley and shake the foreground trees.

4. In the painting, the viaduct has been moved to the left. Why?

The viaduct is painted as a repetition of small arches that have been fashioned using green, semi-

circular brushstrokes (suggestive of the vegetation viewed through the arches). Cézanne adds a

few strokes of pale blues and grays to establish the top of the viaduct. The viaduct has been

moved to the left so that it can create more of a directional flow to guide the viewers’ eyes

towards the central focal point which is the mountain.

5. In the painting, the lines of the viaduct appear to move toward the left. Why?

The lines of the viaduct appear to move toward the left because of the way Cézanne used color

and shading. The right side of the painting where the viaduct begins is seen to have colors that

are more faded and lines that are less defined. As it progresses towards the left, the colors get

more intense, and the lines become more prominent. This gradient allows our eyes to be directed

from right to left, which is why the lines of the viaduct appear to move toward the left.

6. Furthermore, the lines of the viaduct lead (with the help of an axis line) to a meeting point

with the long road that runs (also with the help of an axis line) toward the left side of the

mountain. The fields and buildings within that triangle all seem drawn toward that unseen

apex. Why did Cézanne organize this middle ground more geometrically than the foreground

or the mountain? And why is the apex of the triangle the unifying area for that region?

Cézanne wrestled with the processes of viewing and producing, of representing Mont Sainte-

Victoire in his works. His preoccupation was with the “spectacle” that “most men” were unaware
of, and he was grappling with the methods of making this explicit in his work. That is why the

apex of the triangle is the unifying area – to draw our attention to the foot of the mountain and

from there look upwards towards the splendor of the mountain. Cézanne includes underlying

triangular shapes throughout, between the road and the tree on the left; the road and the viaduct;

and the mountain shape. The visible shapes are also geometric, with the fields broken into

geometric planes and the cubic-shaped house sprinkled throughout the composition. The shape

of these houses especially seems to be pointed towards the apex of the triangle, like they are

“looking” at the mountain. Cézanne organized this middle ground more geometrically than the

foreground or the mountain so as to achieve the effect of accentuated depth and spatial

enlargement, giving the viewers depth and perspective.

Works Cited

Martin, F. David, and Lee A Jacobus. 2019. The Humanities Through The Arts. 10th ed.

McGraw-Hill Education.