L'Estaque, Melting Snow is a c. 1871 oil-on-canvas painting by French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Cézanne. It shows a view from the outskirts of L'Estaque, a small village near Marseille, with a steep hillside covered in a drift of melting snow underneath a foreboding dark grey sky.[1] Filled with intense emotion, the painting has been described as similar to the work of Vincent van Gogh the following decade, and a painting more formally similar to early 20th-century than contemporaneous art.[2]L'Estaque, Melting Snow was painted in a single session.[3] It is one of only two snow-laden winter subjects Cézanne painted.[3]
Cézanne moved to Provence in 1870 to evade military service during the Franco-Prussian War. He soon moved to L'Estaque, where he painted a number of landscapes.[4] Critics differ in their interpretation of this painting, some see it as wholly personal, other as a response to the war with Prussia. Supporting the latter view, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka saw the painting as making a statement on social and political transformation and wrote of the political context in which it was created, "what is our response to those red-roofed houses which are held, as if in a vice, between a leaden sky and a sliding block of snow?"[5]
Descriptionedit
The colors are oppressively dark, while the thickly painted, quick brushwork adds to the urgent violence of the scene. With the exception of the red rooftops and the greens of the trees in the foreground, the colors and the tones are monotonous and gloomy. The whites, greys and blacks are used mostly for emotional impact.[2] Though L'Estaque, Melting Snow evidences Cézanne's new-found facility in depicting the deep space of a landscape, it is marked by an emotional intensity closer in spirit to the turbulence of his early figure works than to the structural complexity of the later landscape paintings.[3]
The diagonal of the hill cuts across the painting from left to right, dividing avalanche on one side and gloom on the other. The hill sweeps down until it rests just above the red roof of a barely visible house at its foot—an effect that art critic Meyer Schapiro described as giving "a rushing force to the image."[2] The dark brown trees on the slope's ledge have twisted trunks and rest on unsteady ground, while the trees in the mid-ground are painted in black and form a descending arch which moves inwards towards the center of the canvas before merging with the ominous overhanging clouds. Given the angle of the hill and the depth from which the houses are viewed, it is difficult to imagine where the observer is supposed to be positioned.
Writer Ronald Berman drew comparison between Cézanne's treatment of this landscape and the way Ernest Hemingway imbues the Irati River in Navarre with emotional scope in his 1926 novel on the lost generation, The Sun Also Rises. In both, the landscape is subjective and the viewpoint of the observer is paramount—the landscape is representational and perceived differently by each character. According to Berman, "The foreground is the observer's space". In the Cézanne, nature becomes an extension of the observer's mental landscape, and in Hemingway it is a representation of each viewer's need for inclusion within the natural order.[6]
estaque, melting, snow, 1871, canvas, painting, french, post, impressionist, artist, paul, cézanne, shows, view, from, outskirts, estaque, small, village, near, marseille, with, steep, hillside, covered, drift, melting, snow, underneath, foreboding, dark, grey. L Estaque Melting Snow is a c 1871 oil on canvas painting by French Post Impressionist artist Paul Cezanne It shows a view from the outskirts of L Estaque a small village near Marseille with a steep hillside covered in a drift of melting snow underneath a foreboding dark grey sky 1 Filled with intense emotion the painting has been described as similar to the work of Vincent van Gogh the following decade and a painting more formally similar to early 20th century than contemporaneous art 2 L Estaque Melting Snow was painted in a single session 3 It is one of only two snow laden winter subjects Cezanne painted 3 L Estaque Melting SnowArtistPaul CezanneYearc 1871MediumOil on canvasDimensions28 75 cm 36 25 cm 11 32 in 14 27 in LocationPrivate collection Contents 1 Background 2 Description 3 See also 4 References 5 SourcesBackground editCezanne moved to Provence in 1870 to evade military service during the Franco Prussian War He soon moved to L Estaque where he painted a number of landscapes 4 Critics differ in their interpretation of this painting some see it as wholly personal other as a response to the war with Prussia Supporting the latter view Anna Teresa Tymieniecka saw the painting as making a statement on social and political transformation and wrote of the political context in which it was created what is our response to those red roofed houses which are held as if in a vice between a leaden sky and a sliding block of snow 5 Description editThe colors are oppressively dark while the thickly painted quick brushwork adds to the urgent violence of the scene With the exception of the red rooftops and the greens of the trees in the foreground the colors and the tones are monotonous and gloomy The whites greys and blacks are used mostly for emotional impact 2 Though L Estaque Melting Snow evidences Cezanne s new found facility in depicting the deep space of a landscape it is marked by an emotional intensity closer in spirit to the turbulence of his early figure works than to the structural complexity of the later landscape paintings 3 The diagonal of the hill cuts across the painting from left to right dividing avalanche on one side and gloom on the other The hill sweeps down until it rests just above the red roof of a barely visible house at its foot an effect that art critic Meyer Schapiro described as giving a rushing force to the image 2 The dark brown trees on the slope s ledge have twisted trunks and rest on unsteady ground while the trees in the mid ground are painted in black and form a descending arch which moves inwards towards the center of the canvas before merging with the ominous overhanging clouds Given the angle of the hill and the depth from which the houses are viewed it is difficult to imagine where the observer is supposed to be positioned Writer Ronald Berman drew comparison between Cezanne s treatment of this landscape and the way Ernest Hemingway imbues the Irati River in Navarre with emotional scope in his 1926 novel on the lost generation The Sun Also Rises In both the landscape is subjective and the viewpoint of the observer is paramount the landscape is representational and perceived differently by each character According to Berman The foreground is the observer s space In the Cezanne nature becomes an extension of the observer s mental landscape and in Hemingway it is a representation of each viewer s need for inclusion within the natural order 6 See also editList of paintings by Paul CezanneReferences edit Athanassoglou Kallmyer 111 a b c Schapiro 54 a b c Adriani 63 Athanassoglou Kallmyer 216 Tymieniecka 148 Berman Ronald Translating Modernism Fitzgerald and Hemingway University of Alabama Press 2011 59 ISBN 978 0 8173 5665 1Sources editAdriani Gotz Cezanne Paintings Harry N Abrams Inc 1995 ISBN 0 8109 4026 4 Athanassoglou Kallmyer Nina Cezanne and Provence University of Chicago Press 2003 ISBN 0 226 42308 5 Schapiro Meyer Cezanne Harry N Abrams 2004 ISBN 0 8109 9146 2 Tymieniecka Anna Teresa Analecta Husserliana Volume 81 Springer Publishing 2001 ISBN 978 1 4020 1709 4 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title L 27Estaque Melting Snow amp oldid 1144028776, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
