The Village of Gardanne (Le Village de Gardanne)

1885-1886

This unfinished canvas is representative of the experimental style and radical pictorial vision that would inspire Paul Cézanne’s contemporaries as well as future generations of artists. Here, he rendered the village of Gardanne in his native Aix-en-Provence through a series of architectonic and organic forms, animated by the shift between cool and warm tones and expanses of unpainted base coat that convey a sense of light. In his highly constructed view, Cézanne omitted the factories and coal pits that surrounded Gardanne, instead selecting an angle that intensified the timeless presence of the church and its bell tower.