The Sea at L'Estaque

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.