Cézanne (July)

Paul Cézanne’s foreground, if it is foreground, emblematises terracotta rooflines and larger trees. The sky is almost blue, like July, with depths of grey cloud built in lines above, and merging in places into, hills that are blue: light blue, that another artist would use for sky. The unmistakeable Dandenongs, in colour shapes, stretch the width of the colour field. Some squares of blue and brown effect the solidity of hills, while squares of blue-white, sided by pastel lines, imitate haze. He made several canvases of the view from the Ivanhoe ridge, all but this one now in private hands.