# The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque

**Paul Cézanne** (French, 1839–1906)  
c. 1885  
Oil on canvas  
80.2 × 100.6 cm (31 5/8 × 39 5/8 in.); Framed: 107.4 × 127.4 × 10.5 cm (42 1/4 × 50 1/8 × 4 1/8 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.1116. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/16487).

## About this work

From the hills above the village of L’Estaque, the rooftops of tan houses tumble down to the deep blue expanse of the Bay of Marseille, with mountains rising beyond the water. Cézanne painted this view repeatedly in the 1870s and 1880s, and in a letter he compared the effect of red roofs against the blue sea to a playing card. He builds the scene from blocks of colour and simplified geometric forms, flattening the sea into a single plane, a way of seeing that would deeply influence the Cubists.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Paul Cézanne painted this in about 1885, aged about 41. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

Impressionist sea landscape, tan houses, blue ocean, distant mountains.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Paul Cézanne](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/paul-cezanne)

French, 1839–1906; born in Aix-en-Provence; died in Aix-en-Provence

Cézanne divided his life between Paris and his native Aix-en-Provence. Encouraged by his schoolfriend Émile Zola and later by Pissarro, with whom he painted at Pontoise and Auvers in the 1870s, he showed at the first and third Impressionist exhibitions. He then withdrew to Provence and worked towards a more structured art, building form from patches of colour in still lifes, bathers and repeated views of Mont Sainte-Victoire. Younger painters, Picasso and Braque among them, saw him as a founder of modern painting.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: France
- The artist was about 41
- Real size: about 31 × 39 in (80 × 100 cm). The 30 × 40 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Subjects: Century of Progress, coastal scenes, sea, townscapes, towns, mountain, hills, water
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/54.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/54/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-bay-of-marseille-seen-from-l-estaque-aic-16487).