Oil sketches and studies became accepted as works of art. But not all Impressionist paintings have survived as well as they should.
plein air
A very talented, skilled, and well-trained painter, who specialised in plein air landscapes in Southern California.
It is hard to be sure when oil painting outdoors first started, but the oldest such paintings date from before 1700.
Few landscape painters since have not been deeply influenced by his pioneering paintings. He also anticipated photographic effects on focus.
His old oaks were saplings during the Middle Ages, and he was a great influence on Gainsborough, Constable, and others.
He intended to be a landscape painter, and was co-founder of the British school of landscape painting. A major influence of Constable and others.
In addition to painting one of the major Neo-Impressionist masterpieces showing poplar trees, he built a series of Post-Impressionist pines-beach-bathers of distinction.
His paintings of trees reached a peak in 1887-92, with his series of poplars. Among these are some of the finest Impressionist paintings.
Sadly neglected today, his landscapes are some of the finest of the century, and his depictions of trees are among the best.
We will never know exactly what Cézanne intended, but he certainly showed it in his paintings of trees.