Farmhouse and Chestnut Trees at Jas de Bouffan

Jas de Bouffan means house of the winds in the old Provençal of Aix-en-Provence, and it was the country estate that Cézanne's father, a banker, had bought in 1859. Cézanne kept coming back to it for decades, though he rarely painted the elegant main house. He preferred the grounds, the shady chestnut avenue, and plain outbuildings like this one, which he seems at times to have used as a studio. This view, from about 1884, shows the analytical style of his maturity, the way he builds the whole scene out of firm, deliberate patches of paint. There is a human footnote to it. Cézanne gave the finished picture to Fannie Toure, a former servant of the family who loved to walk beneath these very trees.