The Bend in the Road

1900/1906

Paul Cezanne

Artist, French, 1839 - 1906

Paul Cezanne

Attributed to

A road or path curves away from us, past a tall formation, perhaps rocks, to our left, and into a valley filled with trees and a low hill beyond in this stylized, vertical landscape. The painting is created almost entirely with patches of vibrant colors mostly in burnt orange, peach, salmon pink, cobalt and sky blue, and lime and spring green. Most of the patches are applied with visible vertical strokes. Areas of unpainted canvas create white patches, especially on and around the path in front of us. The tall formation to our left is painted mostly in oranges and pinks. The trees in the valley are painted entirely with blues and greens, and the low hill enclosing the scene in the distance comes about three-quarters of the way up the canvas. The sky above is blocked in with pale aquamarine blue and a few touches of shell pink along the horizon.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 84

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 82.1 x 66 cm (32 5/16 x 26 in.)
    framed: 106 x 90.1 x 8.8 cm (41 3/4 x 35 1/2 x 3 7/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1985.64.8

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

M. F. Huot.[1] (Ambroise Vollard [1866-1939], Paris, by 1933).[2] (Etienne Bignou, Paris and New York) by1939.[3] (Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Los Angeles). Aline Barnsdall [1882-1946], Los Angeles, by 1941;[4] her estate; (purchased 1952 by M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York); sold 1 July 1952 to Richard H. Zinser [1884-1984], Forest Hills, NY).[5] Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bareiss, Greenwich, CT, by 1956, until at least 1965.[6] (Eugene Victor Thaw and Co., New York); sold April 1973 to Mr. Paul Mellon [1907-1999], Upperville, VA; gift 1985 to NGA.
[1] According to the annotation on the back of a photograph in an album from the Bignou Gallery, New York, the painting was formerly in the collection of M. F. Huot. (See the photograph for “Matinée de printemps à St. Anthonin,” Bignou Gallery Albums no. 2, MS.024. Frick Collection Archives, copy in NGA curatorial files). A likely candidate for this collector is (Monsieur) François Huot [1842-1915], brother of Joseph Huot [1840-1898], childhood friend of Cezanne in Aix. See Maurice Raimbault, Une letter de Cézanne à Joseph Huot, Marseille, 1937: 12, 18.
[2] Vollard lent the work to the 1936 Cezanne exhibition at the Musée de Orangerie, Paris (no. 108bis, as Rout ensoleillée), according to Société Paul Cezanne,"La Route tournante; also known as Matinée de printemps à Saint-Antonin," The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné (https://www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=903, accessed 31 July 2025).
[3] Exhibited at the Bignou Gallery in New York in June-September 1939 and the following April.
[4]Lent by Barnsdall to 1941 exhibition in Los Angeles, in the catalogue of which Hatfield is listed as a prior owner. The picture was not included in the 24 April 1952 sale of Barnsdall's estate held at Kende Galleries, New York.
[5] See Knoedler Stock Book 10, p. 86, row 52, stock no. A5036, and Knoedler Commission Book 5a: p. 55, no.CA 4059, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, as "Road to St. Anthonin."
[6]Lent by Bareiss to exhibitions at Yale in 1956, New York in 1958, and Munich in 1965.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1939

  • Exhibition of XIX and XX Century French Paintings, Bignou Gallery, New York, June - September 1939, no. 6.

1940

  • Paintings and Watercolors by Cezanne, Bignou Gallery, New York, April 1940, no. 8.

1941

  • Aspects of French Painting from Cezanne to Picasso, Los Angeles County Museum, 1941, no. 12, as Turning Road, St. Anthonin.

1956

  • Pictures Collected by Yale Alumni, Yale University Art Gallery,New Haven, 1956, no. 112, repro.

1958

  • 50 Selections from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Bareiss, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1958, no. 11, repro.

1965

  • Sammlung Walter Bareiss, Neue Staatsgalerie München, 1965, no. 999, repro.

1977

  • Cezanne: The Late Work, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1977, no. 44, repro.

1986

  • Gifts to the Nation: Selected Acquisitions from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986, unnumbered checklist

1999

  • An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, no cat.

2014

  • Cézanne Site/Non-Site, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, 2014, no. 14, repro.

Bibliography

1996

  • Rewald, John. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: a catalogue raisonné. 2 vols. New York, 1996:no. 930, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20190674

You may be interested in

Loading Results