Erica Gall
September 14, 2015
Into to Humanities
Visual Arts Essay
Paul Czanne: Mont Sainte-Victoire (1902-04) & Paul Klee: The Niesen (1915)
The painting of the Mont Sainte-Victoire is by a French artist, Paul Czanne. It looks to be
of a mountain, possibly in France where Czanne grew up. The view of the mountain or
landscape seems to be from above the surface as if he painted it like he was overlooking a
city. Paul Czanne used very similar patches of color that really went together. Since the
painting is not extremely sharp and the focus tends to shift, it is almost as if he tried
making this like a mosaic. The most obvious is the mountain, it stands out boldly from the
other structures surrounding it, such as what looks to be rooftops of homes. In comparison
to the painting of The Niesen, which is by a Swiss artist, Paul Klee. In this painting, the
most obvious is the mountain/pyramid as well. Instead of using darker colors like Czanne,
he used brighter colors. Klee’s painting seems to have more color and primitive symbols.
For example, the crescent of Islam and the pine tree. This is common in many of Klee’s
paintings.
I believe that Paul Czanne’s painting of the Mont Sainte-Victoire best demonstrates
artisanship because of how realistic the painting is. He made it where you could see what