Village in the Provence 1885

Paul Cézanne painted "Village in the Provence" using oil on canvas. Cézanne, often wrestling with the norms of his time, sought to capture the underlying structures of the world. At first glance, the painting may appear to be a straightforward landscape, but it invites us to consider the social and cultural landscape of late 19th-century France, a period of rapid industrialization and urbanization. As people migrated to cities, the countryside became a site of nostalgia and longing. Cézanne's paintings of Provence reflect this sentiment, offering a vision of rural life that is both idyllic and grounded in the material realities of the landscape. However, Cézanne wasn't simply interested in replicating what he saw. He once said that he wanted to "make of Impressionism something solid and durable, like the art in the museums." As you consider this painting, ask yourself what endures, and what fades away?