Auvers. View from Nearby 1877

Editor: This is Paul Cézanne's "Auvers. View from Nearby," painted around 1877 using oil paints, currently in a private collection. It's so interesting how the town is framed by all that greenery! What's your interpretation? Curator: This piece exemplifies Cézanne's move toward flattening the picture plane, evident in his distinct brushstrokes of oil paint and the way he builds form. Consider the socio-economic context: Industrialization was rapidly changing the landscape. Cézanne, working en plein air, directly confronts the materials of his environment – both natural and, in the distant town, constructed. How do you see the materials relating to each other? Editor: I guess the trees, being very textured, contrast against the smoother buildings and rooftops, making the man-made structures seem a bit separate. Curator: Precisely. Cézanne is wrestling with representation, moving away from mimetic accuracy. The material application of the oil itself becomes the subject. Think about the labor involved – the physical act of applying those strokes. Does that alter your perspective on landscape paintings? Editor: Definitely. You usually think about *what* is painted, but you're right, *how* it's painted, like the density and direction of brushstrokes, and how long it would take Cézanne to mix those paints... it adds another layer. Curator: Exactly! And that labor connects directly to the social and economic changes of the time. What did painting *mean* as a mode of production during that period? Editor: That's fascinating, thinking about painting as labor rather than just expression. I never considered that before! Curator: Examining the means of artistic production gives us insight not just into the art itself, but into the larger world in which it was made and circulated.