Study of Trees and Rocks; Study of Trees (verso)

Here, Paul Cézanne used a layered field of graphite marks and transparent planes of watercolor to describe foliage and natural contours, with blank passages of paper heightening a sense of space and light. Watercolor strokes and graphite lines create a harmonious rhythm across the surface of the drawing.

Cézanne used drawings like these, which he made in the countryside around his home near Aix-en-Provence in the South of France, to experiment with form, structure, and space, creating images that appear at once dense and atmospheric. Many successive generations of artists were greatly influenced by the complexity and abstraction of Cézanne’s vision.