Maison de Bellevue et pigeonnier (House and Dovecote at Bellevue)

In 1906, Karl Ernst Osthaus first became interested in Paul Cézanne, the only important 19th century painter not yet represented in his collection. Ambroise Vollard, Osthaus's Parisian art dealer, sent him a few of Cézanne's paintings to Hagen to look at, including Maison de Bellevue et Pigeonnier. In the same year, Osthaus and his wife visited Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence. The house visible in the painting is the manor house Bellevue, situated on a hill near Aix-en-Provence. Around 1885, Cézannes brother-in-law Maxime Conil purchased the Montbriant estate, to which belonged the neighboring manor of Bellevue. The painter used Bellevue as starting point for his walks through the surrounding countryside and the house served as motif for a series of paintings. Almost completely abstracted from the landscape itself in its colors and forms, Cézanne's painting presents an unspectacular landscape to great effect. With the lightness of an aquarelle, painting in thin and liquid paints, the painting seems unfinished and at the same time tender, with the fragrant atmosphere of high summer. Together with this painting, Karl Ernst Osthaus also acquired the Bibémus Quarry from Cézannes long-standing art dealer Ambroise Vollard in 1906.