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Lot Essay
In September 1859, Louis-Auguste Cézanne, father of the artist, acquired from Gabriel-Fernand Joursin a country property, known as the Jas de Bouffan, consisting of approximately 14 hectares and 97 acres. It was in this rather severe bastide - the provençal term defining the late 18th Century mansions in the countryside surrounding Aix-en-Provence - that the young Cézanne grew up. The Jas encompassed tenant farms and vineyards as well as a pleasure garden with an oblong pool - depicted in the present watercolour - and an allé of chestnut trees. The stunning bloom of the trees surrounding the house and the pool deeply inspired the artist and there exist many oils and watercolours of the gardens. As H. Loyrette has observed, 'Struck with wonder... at these trees "magnificent and severe, as old as the gods, as solemn as monuments" [E. and J. de Goncourt, Manette Salomon, 1867, p. 239], he always cropped their crowns, thereby giving his images a force out of proportion with their diminutive format' (Cézanne, exh. cat., Philadelphia, 1996, p. 126).
In the development of his revolutionary, pre-Cubist approach to space and structure, Cézanne found fundamental inspiration in the Jas de Bouffan. The rectangular walls of the pool and the elegant trees surrounding it, offered him the unique opportunity of de-constructing the view and experimenting with an utterly new concept of landscape. In the present work, Cézanne chose a very original angle. As Rewald has observed, 'here it was the abundant foliage that provided the main interest for him, its unruly mass textured by the strokes of the artist's brush' (Paul Cézanne. The Watercolours, London, 1983, p. 184). Cézanne referred here to his early depictions of the allée des marronniers where, above all, he revealed his skills as a colourist. Indebted to the Barbizon model, he refined his attention to the play of light and shadow, recording the most subtle chromatic changes in the crowns of the chestnut trees surrounding the Jas.
The provenance of Le bassin du Jas de Bouffan is particularly distinguished, having been acquired from the Parisian dealer Bernheim-Jeune by the celebrated American collector John Nicholas Brown, the owner of Monet's Champ d'avoine (see lot 12).
In the development of his revolutionary, pre-Cubist approach to space and structure, Cézanne found fundamental inspiration in the Jas de Bouffan. The rectangular walls of the pool and the elegant trees surrounding it, offered him the unique opportunity of de-constructing the view and experimenting with an utterly new concept of landscape. In the present work, Cézanne chose a very original angle. As Rewald has observed, 'here it was the abundant foliage that provided the main interest for him, its unruly mass textured by the strokes of the artist's brush' (Paul Cézanne. The Watercolours, London, 1983, p. 184). Cézanne referred here to his early depictions of the allée des marronniers where, above all, he revealed his skills as a colourist. Indebted to the Barbizon model, he refined his attention to the play of light and shadow, recording the most subtle chromatic changes in the crowns of the chestnut trees surrounding the Jas.
The provenance of Le bassin du Jas de Bouffan is particularly distinguished, having been acquired from the Parisian dealer Bernheim-Jeune by the celebrated American collector John Nicholas Brown, the owner of Monet's Champ d'avoine (see lot 12).