One of the many masterpieces created by Paul Cézanne was his 1904-05 painting, titled Riverbanks (Bords D’Une Riveire). This post-impressionist artwork depicts a scene of a Provençal landscape using oil paints. It is regarded as one of his works that showcase his developing style towards greater geometrical abstraction.
As a French artist who lived during the late 19th and early 20th century, Cézanne’s impact on modern art was immense. He created over 900 oil paintings and 400 watercolors in his career, with Riverbanks being one of them. His unique ideas combined with his artistic genius influenced later movements like Cubism and Fauvism.
Riverbanks is an excellent example of Cézanne’s rendering of landscapes. The color composition used in this painting produces an effect bordering on simplicity, while simultaneously conveying complexity within the geometric forms used to express trees and riverbanks reflections. Riverbanks resembles more of an abstraction than reality – this shows that Cézanne was not solely interested in representing things as they appeared but wanted to present his perception expressed through geometry.
