Art Image Details

". . . . If one is first drawn to Mont Sainte-Victoire and Hamlet by the harsh splendor of the landscape, one stays with the painting because of the compelling geometry of the buildings that are of, not on, the earth. This bold group, drawn together like a single structure, a sort of a Provençal manor house that seems to have risen from a geological fold, presents a united face against the baking sun. "The greatest heat of the day has passed, and shadows have begun to lengthen on the houses . . . . Their angular roof lines are modulated by . . . swelling arcs . . . then a lone house bridges the rest of the distance to the mountain whose pulsing surface distantly echoes the buildings. "Gardanne is about eight kilometers south of Aix-en-Provence, where Cézanne had his studio. The "hamlet" of the title is in fact Meyreuil, situated on a plateau about four kilometers northeast of Gardanne with Mont Sainte-Victoire about seven kilometers beyond."