Mont Sainte-Victoire 1906

Mont Sainte-Victoire was painted by Paul Cézanne with oil on canvas. Now, the interesting thing about this painting is the materiality of paint itself. Cézanne has built the image up with countless small strokes. Each dab of pigment is like a brick in a wall, carefully placed to create the final impression. Look closely, and you can see the labor involved in building up this landscape, bit by bit. Of course, oil paint was commercially available in tubes by Cézanne's time, a relatively new development. This meant that artists could readily purchase and use it; but that doesn't diminish the commitment and time it took Cézanne to cover this canvas, capturing the light and form of the mountain. The painting reminds us that the way something is made is as important as what is depicted. It challenges our assumptions about what constitutes a finished work of art.