We look across a body of water at two houses, some smaller outbuildings, and a houseboat along the far bank in this abstracted, horizontal landscape painting. Painted with thin, loose strokes of moss and pine green, pale topaz and denim blue, and black, many of the details are indistinct. The cream-white houses have dark roofs and are nearly engulfed by tall, lush trees that reach nearly to the top of the canvas. Fog-gray clouds float against a watery blue sky above. The green of the trees is reflected in the water below, where some of the canvas remains unpainted, especially in the lower…

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At the Water's Edge

Paul Cezanne (French, 1839 - 1906)

c. 1890

Medium: oil on canvas
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: overall: 73 × 92.5 cm (28 3/4 × 36 7/16 in.) ; framed: 103.51 × 121.92 × 13.97 cm (40 3/4 × 48 × 5 1/2 in.)
Culture: French
Museum: National Gallery of Art, CF
Credit line: Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman
Rights: Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art

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