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The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque

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Follow the rooflines across the foreground, then the broad bands of bay, mountain, and sky stacked above them.

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Cézanne returned to views of the bay from L’Estaque more than a dozen times during the 1880s. In a letter to Pissarro, he compared the view to a playing card, emphasizing the strong, simple shapes and colors that interested him.

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Oil on canvas · 80.2 × 100.6 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Post-Impressionism

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Museum title
The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque
Artist
Paul Cézanne
Date
c. 1885
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
80.2 × 100.6 cm (31 5/8 × 39 5/8 in.); Framed: 107.4 × 127.4 × 10.5 cm (42 1/4 × 50 1/8 × 4 1/8 in.)
Credit line
Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
Image license
CC0 1.0 · Public domain
Museum record
Art Institute of Chicago

Artist’s life 1839–1906

Post-Impressionism c. 1886–1905

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Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.

The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque · Paul Cézanne, c. 1885
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The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque, Paul Cézanne

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