It is truly remarkable that in his letter to Émile Zola dated April 14, 1878, Cézanne praised Mont Sainte-Victoire seen from a speeding train as “What a beautiful motif.”
That is, Cézanne gradually realized in his paintings the transformation of visual perception induced by the railway as one of his “sensations.”
This is one of the latest academic perspectives to reveal the secrets of Cézanne’s art.
Firstly, Cézanne’s The Ferry at Bonnières, painted in the summer of 1866, is the earliest painting with the railway as its subject among all the works of French Impressionist painters.
This is a new fact that no one in the world has pointed out until now.
Cézanne and the Railway (3): His Railway Subject in Aix-en-Provence（by Tomoki Akimaru）
In addition, Cézanne ordinary used steam trains from his youth to old age, and he produced many paintings featuring various railway subjects such as cutting, signal, track, bridge, and locomotive in his hometown of Aix.
Indeed, Cézanne was not only a painter who loved nature, but also a painter of modern life.
Cézanne also painted various railway subjects in Medan, Pontoise, Gardanne and L’Estaque.
A unique feature of Cézanne’s railway paintings is that those who are unfamiliar with the location would not clearly recognize that a railway subject is depicted in his paintings. Furthermore, rather than focusing only on the railways, he portrays them in contrast to nature.
Cézanne and the Railway (5): A Style Analysis of His Form（by Tomoki Akimaru）
Then, how did the railway influence Cézanne’s form in painting?
In fact, Cézanne’s paintings and the view from the window of a speeding train are very similar. In both cases, the world appears to be shaking and moving horizontally, and the foreground is lost. Another common feature is the multiple perspectives and distortion of the objects.
Cézanne and the Railway (6): The Influence from Subject to Form（by Tomoki Akimaru）
In painting, the influence of an unfamiliar object first appears in the subject and then in the form. Because it is easier to paint what you see than to paint what you have internalized.
Among the impressionist painters who first seriously took up the railway in France, Cézanne, Monet, and Degas were experienced the transition of the influence by the railway from the subject to the form in their paintings.
And it was Cézanne who achieved this transition the earliest.
Cézanne and the Railway (7): What is the Realization of Sensations?（by Tomoki Akimaru）
In short, the sensation that Cézanne was trying to realize as a painter was, first and foremost, the transformation of visual perception caused by the outdoor light.
We can assume that in the process of pursuing this, Cézanne also adopted another sensation, namely the transformation of visual perception induced by the railway.
These articles are an excerpt from the author’s doctoral thesis.
