La Montagne Sainte-Victoire Essay, Research Paper

La Montagne Sainte-Victoire

Paul Cezanne

1887

Paul Cezanne created the painting “La Montagne Sainte-Victoire” in 1887. The painting consists of the actual mountain of Sainte-Victoire as the dominant feature of the landscape. Cezanne’s hometown, Aix-en-Provence, is in front of the mountain. The painting begins with a view above the town looking in between two branches. The branch on the left side of the painting shows its base as you look on the left side of the painting. Cezanne had painted this scenario on many different occasions. The interesting patterns of the fields, houses, and trees help give a feeling of permanence to the mountain.

Cezanne had a very interesting technique to the world at his time. Although this painting looks very old fashioned, at the time it was fresh and full with energy which inspired many painters to follow him. The lighting of this painting is very light. For the most part, the only dark elements of this painting are the tree branches and trunk. The leaves from the branches become brighter as they grow from the stems. The town of Provence as well looks bright as it appears to be a sunny day. The brightest part of the painting is in the middle of the painting, which consists the mountain. Many different shades go throughout the mountain, but it has a glow element to it. The ridges of the mountain have a darker touch.

There are not many different colors to this painting. The main color of this painting is green which helps exemplify nature at its best. The green leaves from the trees as well as from the city below help capture the beauty of this view. The shades of blue of the sky provide the painting with a bright glorious day that would be perfect to paint. The colors of the mountain help blend in with the sky as the only thing that helps to divulge them from one another are the mountain ridges. The color of beige is also being used to help show the farmers fields down below in the town. By looking at this painting, there is a lot of positive emotion. The beauty of this painting shows how proud Cezanne is of his heritage. It also shows us how beautiful the mountainside is.