Lake Annecy

C�zanne thought Lake Annecy, with its dramatic mountain surroundings, was almost too picturesque, suited “to drawing exercises for young Englishwomen.” In his hands, the lake becomes an opaque area of colour, and the sides of the mountains are tectonic masses.

This painting is one of the most impressive of all the landscapes which C�zanne painted outside Provence. The surface of the water appears dense and impenetrable; its effect is motionless and tectonic, like that of the mountain which stand immediately behind it, a great, solid mass.