The Brook

Although Cezanne exhibited twice with the Impressionists, he rejected his friends’ goals of capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere in their art. Instead, he sought to create balance among the forms and colors in his compositions. This painting depicts the valley of the Arc River that runs southeast of Cezanne’s home in Aix-en-Provence. Throughout the composition, he juxtaposed strokes of different hues, describing the leaves, branches, and the stream with color rather than drawing the outlines of forms.