Paul Cezanne, 'In the Bibémus Quarry', 1900-04

In the 1890s and early 1900s, Cezanne painted numerous views of the Bibémus Quarry. Situated not far from Aix-en-Provence, the site was renowned since Antiquity for its yellow-ochre limestone. But while the artist was mesmerised by the quarry’s chromatic qualities, he also had personal and intellectual reasons to explore this motif. Having spent time in the area as a child, Cezanne had a special connection to Bibémus. Moreover, these rock formations, dating ten to eight million years ago, appealed to his deep interest in Prehistory: ‘In order to paint a landscape well, I first need to discover its geological foundations’, he once wrote to a friend. Of the eleven oils and sixteen watercolours belonging to the series, this is the only one featuring a human presence. Sitting centrally on some eroded rocks, this tiny figure gives a sense of the scale of the massive cliff.