Paul Cézanne
French, 1839­1906
The Bay of Marseilles, Seen from L’Estaque
1886/90
Oil on canvas
80.2 x 100.6 cm
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection, 1933.1116

As a young artist, Cézanne lived in Paris and exhibited with the Impressionist painters. Later he lived in the small village of L’Estaque on the southern coast of France. From the village, he could see the city of Marseilles, its harbor, and the coastal mountains, views he never tired of painting. Here you see the beautiful bay. Cézanne wrote of the view, “It is like a playing card. Red roofs on the blue sea. The sun is so terrifying that it seems as though the objects are silhouetted, not only in black and white, but in blue, red, brown, and violet.”