Auvers, Panoramic View

Paul Cézanne painted this work during his first prolonged stay at Auvers, where the older Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro was his companion and mentor. He chose to focus not on a notable, picturesque site—the Oise River or the medieval church of Notre-Dame—but rather on the patchwork formed by the town’s ordinary houses and rooftops. The tall white structure with a single window on the left of the composition is the house of Dr. Paul Gachet, a friend and collector of the Impressionists and the painting’s first owner. (Source: Art Institute of Chicago)