Lot Essay
Guillaumin painted Paysage de l'Ile de France alongside Cézanne, whose Village derrière des Arbres, Ile de France (fig. 1) depicts precisely the same motif. In his catalogue of Cézanne's oeuvre, John Rewald recounts the relationship between the two artists:
Among the few cordial friendships Cézanne formed with fellow artists was his friendship with Armand Guillaumin... The two painters apparently met around 1862 at the famous Académie Suisse in Paris, Guillaumin being about twenty-one at the time and Cézanne exactly two years older. Both soon became friendly with Camille Pissarro, then already in his early thirties. In 1863, all three participated in the Salon des Refusés and in 1874 in the first exhibition of the Impressionist group... Cézanne...and Guillaumin...must have seen have a good deal of each other in those days; their association became even closer when, in January 1875, Cézanne moved to 15, quai d'Anjou, while Guillaumin lived at number 13. (J. Rewald, op. cit., p. 199)
On occasion the two friends painted together in the neighborhoods surrounding the city. In this instance the artists must have set up their easels at practically the same spot, and both selected upright canvases of very similar dimensions. While Guillaumin interpreted the scene before him by freely depicting the abundant foliage, Cézanne stripped the trees almost bare. Rewald suggests that this was a result of the autumnal weather and of Cézanne's slower working methods: by the time Cézanne turned his attention to the top of the canvas, the wind had swept the leaves away.
Other paintings which bear witness to the intimate working relationship between the two artists at this time include Guillaumin's La route tournante (Private Collection) and Cézanne's work of the same title (Rewald, no. 388; Private Collection) of circa 1877, and Guillaumin's Paysage en Ile de France (Serret and Fabiani, no. 50; Private Collection) and Cézanne's Paysage: Orée d'un bois (Rewald, no. 276; Private Collection) of 1876.
(fig. 1) Paul Cézanne, Village derrière les arbres, Ile de France, circa 1879
Private Collection (Christie's, November 15, 1988)
Among the few cordial friendships Cézanne formed with fellow artists was his friendship with Armand Guillaumin... The two painters apparently met around 1862 at the famous Académie Suisse in Paris, Guillaumin being about twenty-one at the time and Cézanne exactly two years older. Both soon became friendly with Camille Pissarro, then already in his early thirties. In 1863, all three participated in the Salon des Refusés and in 1874 in the first exhibition of the Impressionist group... Cézanne...and Guillaumin...must have seen have a good deal of each other in those days; their association became even closer when, in January 1875, Cézanne moved to 15, quai d'Anjou, while Guillaumin lived at number 13. (J. Rewald, op. cit., p. 199)
On occasion the two friends painted together in the neighborhoods surrounding the city. In this instance the artists must have set up their easels at practically the same spot, and both selected upright canvases of very similar dimensions. While Guillaumin interpreted the scene before him by freely depicting the abundant foliage, Cézanne stripped the trees almost bare. Rewald suggests that this was a result of the autumnal weather and of Cézanne's slower working methods: by the time Cézanne turned his attention to the top of the canvas, the wind had swept the leaves away.
Other paintings which bear witness to the intimate working relationship between the two artists at this time include Guillaumin's La route tournante (Private Collection) and Cézanne's work of the same title (Rewald, no. 388; Private Collection) of circa 1877, and Guillaumin's Paysage en Ile de France (Serret and Fabiani, no. 50; Private Collection) and Cézanne's Paysage: Orée d'un bois (Rewald, no. 276; Private Collection) of 1876.
(fig. 1) Paul Cézanne, Village derrière les arbres, Ile de France, circa 1879
Private Collection (Christie's, November 15, 1988)