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In his last years Cézanne painted over and over in the woods around Aix-en-Provence, on the rocky slopes near an estate called the Château Noir. This is one of those late views, made somewhere around 1902 to 1904, at the very end of his life. There is barely a path or a clear horizon to hold onto. Red rocks warm the centre while cooler greys and blues drift toward the edges, and in places he simply left the canvas bare, laying colour down in separate blocky strokes instead of blending them. He was working almost daily by then, often outdoors in all weathers around Aix, worrying at the same motifs until they came right. He died in 1906, only a couple of years after painting like this.