View of Auvers sur Oise was created between 1873 and 1875 and is admired for its wide open spaces and swirling green colors. The work was produced during a time of change in Cézanne's career, when he was experimenting with his color palette beyond his usual tempestuous dark choices.
View of Auvers sur Oise was painted when Cézanne was staying with his good friend Dr Paul Gachet in the 1870s. The two had met in Pontoise where Paul Cézanne was living with his mistress and future wife, Hortense Fiquet, and his newborn son Paul. Dr. Gachet was a big admirer of Cézanne's works and recognized his potential.
Consequently the doctor invited the artist to come and stay at his house and paint the surrounding landscapes.
Cézanne obliged and began painting alongside his good friend Camille Pissarro, an Impressionst. Cézanne was encouraged to use lighter colors when working on this piece. yet, rather than create a swirling, bright, impression of nature Cézanne believed that nature should be shown as accurately as possible.
For Cezanne, there was no one way to view subject matter because objects were constantly in flux. For example every time that Paul Cézanne sat down to paint View of Auvers sur Oise he copied whatever he saw at that time rather than finish what he had seen the first time he looked at the landscape.
Additionally, Cézanne believed that it was possible to analyze and break nature down into small shapes. Thus, he looked at the panoramic landscape and houses as a group of shapes that, when placed on the canvas, would create an accurate representation of what he saw.
It was difficult for Cézanne to finish a piece like View of Auvers sur Oise because it took him an extraordinarily long time to finish a painting. He was a slow worker and when painting a landscape, a great deal would have changed between what he saw at the beginning of his painting process and the end.
Furthermore he often chose to paint his landscapes from difficult to reach vistas that were not easily accessible with his painting gear.
Consequently, Cézanne did not finish View of Auvers sur Oise, which is obvious because the piece has never been signed or dated.