Foliage (recto); Study of Trees (verso) by Paul Cézanne is a pivotal double-sided drawing created in 1895, utilizing both watercolor and pencil on paper. This piece exemplifies the crucial role that drawing and the direct observation of nature played in the later career of the French Post-Impressionist master.
The recto, titled Foliage, showcases Cézanne’s distinctive technique of building form through overlaid marks. Structural pencil lines establish the underlying architecture of a dense forest setting, over which delicate, transparent washes of watercolor are applied. These thin layers of color define volume and light, suggesting the weight and structure of botanical forms without resorting to conventional descriptive detail. This method, where form is built up rather than outlined, was central to Cézanne's revolutionary approach to integrating drawing and color.
The verso presents a separate composition, Study of Trees. Likely executed during one of Cézanne’s outdoor sessions in the Provençal landscape, this side emphasizes verticality and spatial relationships. The pencil work here is more concentrated, sketching out the trunks and branching patterns that define depth. Both sides of the paper demonstrate the artist’s continuous exploration of how to translate three-dimensional space onto a flat surface, treating nature not merely as a subject to be copied but as a complex field of geometric and chromatic relationships.
Dating specifically from 1895, this work belongs to a period of intense productivity during which Cézanne consolidated his mature style, influencing artists moving toward Cubism and abstraction. The meticulous recording evident in these studies served as the foundation for his major oil paintings. Classified as a drawing, this seminal example of late 19th-century French art is carefully preserved within the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). As one of the most studied artists, reproductions and fine art prints of Cézanne's preparatory works, often available through public domain initiatives, continue to educate viewers on his foundational contribution to modern painting.
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