Turn in the Road

During the 1870s, Cézanne admired and worked closely with Camille Pissarro, one of the most innovative Impressionist landscape painters. In comparison to Pissarro's more straightforward views of the countryside, this bold landscape shows Cézanne's interest in complex arrangements of shapes and spaces that challenge the viewer's perceptions. In this painting, for example, the curving roadway draws us into deep space and at the same time forms a flattened shape on the surface of the painting. The first owner of this landscape was Cézanne's contemporary Claude Monet.