The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque

The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque by Paul Cezanne: In a letter to his friend and teacher Camille Pissarro , Paul Cézanne compared the view of the sea f…

What to notice

Start with iconic, modern, expressive. Look closely at the composition, color, and focal detail in this institution-verified image.

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In a letter to his friend and teacher Camille Pissarro , Paul Cézanne compared the view of the sea from L’Estaque to a playing card, with its simple shapes and colors. The landscape’s configuration and color fascinated him. This painting is one of more than a dozen such vistas created by the artist during the 1880s. Cézanne divided the canvas into four zones—architecture, water, mountain, and sky. Although these four elements are seen repeatedly in Impressionist paintings, Cézanne’s work is very different from tha…