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Paul Cezanne, The Sea at L'Estaque

Key facts
Full title The Sea at L'Estaque
Artist Paul Cezanne
Artist dates 1839 - 1906
Date made 1876
Medium and support Oil on canvas
Dimensions 42 × 59 cm
Inscription summary Signed
Acquisition credit On loan from a private collection
Inventory number L1249
Location Room 44
Image copyright On loan from a private collection, © Private Collection 2018
Collection Main Collection
The Sea at L'Estaque
Paul Cezanne

Leaving Northern France where he was working alongside Pisarro, Cézanne returned to his native South in spring 1876, staying at L’Estaque, a fishing village near Marseille. He worked out-of-doors, focussing on the violent Mediterranean light and its ability to both enhance colours and flatten volumes. “It’s like a playing card”, he wrote, “Red roofs against the blue sea”. Cézanne sent this picture to the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877.

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