Cezanne inspires lively landscapes.

Since our fourth grade students paint landscapes, Cezanne is one of the artists we study. For this lesson, Cezanne's many landscapes of Mont Ste. Victoire were the focus of our study. I began by telling the class about how Cezanne had painted Mont Ste. Victoire over and over again during his lifetime.

Cezanne and the impressionists

We looked at the work of Cezanne and other Impressionists. The students observed a light-filled liveliness in the work of Monet and Seurat. They saw how visible dashes of paint often created new colors when superimposed on the canvas. They noted that Cezanne's paintings, especially his landscapes, were different. They described them as having a "boxy," sculptural quality, with his brushstrokes often forming little squares when bunched together. I reminded students that these "boxes" became the building blocks upon which the Cubists built their painting theories in the twentieth century. According to many art historians, Cezanne deserves the title of "Father of Modern Art."

Painting in Rhythm

After our discussion, it was time to paint. On 18 x 24" (46 x 61 cm) gray paper, students chalked a basic composition -- foreground, middle-ground, and background, some with several sections in each category. Next, I demonstrated painting several brushstrokes at a time, right next to each other, to make little squares of color. Three one-inch strokes seemed to make a square blotch with the #10 brush, so I suggested counting 1-2-3, 1-2-3, in a waltzing rhythm while painting.

Brushstrokes were to be kept short throughout, and the entire surface of the paper covered. I encouraged students to start at the top of the paper, and work down to the bottom, section by section. Once an area was filled with "squares," the brushstrokes could be lightly blended. New colors could be created by painting wet over wet.

Our palette (a large paint station filled with dozens of jars) was limited to colors favored by Cezanne for his landscape paintings -- burnt orange instead of red, dark brown and blue instead of black.

One Hundred Years of Inspiration

Students painted their way down the paper, brushing and blending until they reached the foreground at the bottom. Some chose to overpaint details at this point, adding streams or bridges. Others felt content to add nothing at all.

The students projected a liveliness of color, form, and brushstrokes that was refreshing and exciting. Yes, Cezanne still inspires, just as he did one hundred years ago!