Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902AI

Few mountains have been painted as often as this one. Paul Cézanne grew up near Aix-en-Provence in southern France, and the limestone peak of Mont Sainte-Victoire stood on the horizon his whole life. In his final years he returned to it again and again, producing dozens of versions in oil and watercolor. This 1902 painting comes from that late burst of devotion, when the artist seemed less interested in copying the view exactly and more interested in capturing how it felt to stand before it.

Look closely and you will notice the brushstrokes never quite blend together. Cézanne built his landscapes out of small patches of color, blue, green, orange, and ochre, fitted side by side like tiles. Up close it can look almost messy, but step back and the mountain rises clearly out of the warm fields below. This way of building form from blocks of color fascinated younger painters, and artists like Picasso and Braque later pointed to Cézanne as the man who opened the door to Cubism.

That is part of why he is often called the father of modern painting. He was not trying to flatter the scenery or show off. He simply wanted to understand the shapes underneath what he saw, and he kept chasing that idea on the same humble hillside until the very end of his life.