Sainte-Victoire vue des Lauves
Aquarelle, 1902-1906. 47,2 X 62,6 cm.
Coll. Oskar Reinhardt Winterthur (Suisse).

44 oil paintings and 43 watercolours bear witness to Cézanne’s love for the Sainte-Victoire.

Setting up his easel near Chemin de Marguerite, the artist chose the highest viewpoint of the mountain. He often returned between 1902 and 1906, to finish 11 oils on canvas and 17 watercolours, which can be seen today in the world’s greatest museums or in private collections.

Some features of the landscape in the earliest paintings can still be seen: wheat fields, road to the Alps, red roofs of houses and the power plant. In February 1904, Emile Bernard accompanied Cézanne « on the motif ». « It was two kilometres from the studio, facing a valley, at the foot of Sainte-Victoire, that bold mountain that he never stopped painting in watercolour and oil, and which filled him with admiration ».

Cézanne would settle down opposite the mountain with his easel, his paint box, his palette and his paintbrushes. He hid from prying eyes, away from the sunshades of landscape artists.

A few yards from there, he painted Jourdan’s cottage. On 15 October 1906, a thunderstorm struck. Cézanne stayed and painted in the rain for a few hours, and then had a fainting fit. « We brought him back to Rue Boulegon on a laundry cart, and two men had to lift him into his bed. Early the next morning, he went down to the Lauves studio garden to work on a portrait of Vallier under the lime tree. He came back a dying man... ». Cézanne wanted to die whilst painting. He passed away a week later during the night of 22 to 23 October, from pleurisy.

As part of its policy to develop the Cézanne sites, the city of Aix-en-Provence has created the painters’ ground (terrain des peintres), now within the Marguerite Estate. Opposite the mountain which, from this angle, becomes a figurehead, ten panels depict the main « Sainte-Victoires » painted by Cézanne from Chemin de la Marguerite.

More infos about Sainte Victoire (history, organizations) with Tourist Office Aix en Provence.