Mount Sainte-Victoire c. 1904

Paul Cézanne made this painting of Mount Sainte-Victoire with oil on canvas, and you can see how he built it up, bit by bit. Each brushstroke feels like a decision, a little tile in a mosaic of color. It’s like he’s not just painting what he sees, but how he sees. Look closely at the foreground. The way he layers those warm oranges and reds against the cooler greens and blues gives the landscape a real weight. It feels like you could reach out and touch the rough texture of the earth. The paint isn't trying to hide itself, it's right there on the surface. There is one, very dark blob of green which could be read as a tree, but I love the way it interrupts the light of the sky. Cézanne was a huge influence on Picasso and the Cubists, and you can see why. He wasn't just trying to copy nature, he was trying to understand it, to break it down into its essential forms. His work reminds us that art isn't about perfect representation, it's about exploring and experimenting.