Late Cezanne

One of the reason’s Cezanne’s late paintings are great is that they so deeply involve the viewer.  This work demands that the viewer align the painted objects and spatial effects with one’s internalized notions of linear and aerial  perspective.  It demands that the sketchy trees be fully foliated, the earth solidified, the sky pasted into uniform atmosphere.  One’s brain strives to deny the objectness of the painting and to establish pictorial space.  It is as if the painting is a dehydrated sponge ripe with potential and our act of seeing adds water creating a full, round esthetic experience.  Magic happens as we look.   It is this tension, generated by a will to complete the work, to participate, that so fully engages us in these paintings.