Cezanne and the Steam Railway (8)
: A Transformation of Mentality Induced by the Steam Railway

Tomoki Akimaru (Art Historian)
Below is an abstract of my doctoral dissertation.


In the preceding chapters, we discerned the possibility that Paul Cezanne (1839?1906), in his painted representations, was inspired by the transformed vision induced by passing sceneries viewed from a moving train, which was a new vision in the second half of the nineteenth century. We then reconsider this theme from the viewpoint of the transformation of the mentality influenced by the steam railway.
When the steam railway came into existence, the older generation, who had grown used to the natural landscape, perceived the transformation of the terrain as an ugly spectacle, when viewed from the linear rapidity of the train, causing feelings associated with travel to become less exciting and which tore apart the passing sceneries.

For example, in Modern Painters, Volume III (1856), John Ruskin describes his animosity the railroad trip:

Hence, to any person who has all his senses about him, a quiet walk along not more than ten or twelve miles of road a day, is the most amusing of all travelling; and all travelling becomes dull in exact proportion to its rapidity. Going by railroad I do not consider as travelling at all; it is merely gbeing senth to a place, and very little different from becoming a parcel (1).

On the other hand, the new generation, which has developed a modernized perception of the steam railway and which has adapted themselves to its linear rapidity, enjoys the train ride in comfort and appreciates the transformation of the window scenery as an aesthetic spectacle that gradually appears.

For instance, in Life on the Railways (1861), Benjamin Gastineau praised the railway journey:

Before the creation of the railroads, nature did not pulsate; it was a Sleeping Beautyc. The heavens themselves appeared immutable. The railroad animated everythingc. The sky has become an active infinity, and nature a dynamic beauty (2).

Regarding the transformation of mentality induced by the steam railway, in Railway Journey (1977), Wolfgang Schivelbusch explains the phenomenon: gThe railroad has created a new landscape. The velocity that atomized the objects of Ruskinfs perception, and thus deprived them of their contemplative value, became a stimulus for the new perception. It is the velocity that made the objects of the visible world attractiveh (3).

In relation to this, after he visited his best friend Emile Zolafs palatial residence in Medan, Cezanne wrote a letter to Zola on June 23, 1879, describing how he was enjoying the window scenery from a moving train:

I arrived without any catastrophe at the station at Triel and my arm, waved across the door as I passed in front of your castle, must haverevealed to you my presence in the train\which I didnft miss (4).

Incidentally, Zola, well-known as a railway fan, built his house so that it faced the railroad of the Paris-Le Havre train line and took photographs of a speeding train with his extra hobby camera (Fig. 1-Fig. 4). It is probable that Cezanne waved his arm to Zola from just such a train.



Fig. 1 Photographed by Emile Zola
Self-portrait, date unknown.



Fig. 2 Photographed by Emile Zola
Zolafs residence in Medan and the railroad of the Paris- Le Havre train line, date unknown.


Fig. 3 Photographed by Emile Zola
A train that passed in front of Zolafs residence,
date unknown.


Fig. 4 Photographed by Emile Zola
A photograph of the scene in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6,
date unknown.


This letter shows that Cezanne took the railway trip freely and enjoyed it comfortably. In short, Cezanne is a member of one of the first generations that perceived railway travel visions as being aesthetically pleasing.

Interestingly, during the same period in which he wrote the letter to Zola, Cezanne painted the circumference of Zolafs residence and called it Castle at Medan (1879?1881) (Fig. 5) and Castle at Medan (1879?1880) (Fig. 6).



Fig. 5 Paul Cezanne
Castle at Medan 1879-1881


Fig. 6 Paul Cezanne
Castle at Medan 1879-1880


We can recognize the similarities in the common features of these two works, that is, the juxtaposition of touches to the horizontal direction and the emphasis on horizontal ridgelines with the vision of scenery as it passes by when viewed through the window during a railway journey.

Of course, in both of these paintings, Cezanne did not sketch the exact scenery as it was viewed through the window of a moving train. Here, from the perspective of internalization and his artistic creativity of a modernistic vision, it is very important for us to know that after getting off a train, Cezanne painted natural landscapes by applying the mechanized perception induced by the steam railway.

In addition, Cezanne actually described the Mont Sainte-Victoire as seen from a moving train in his letter dated April 14, 1878, in which he wrote, gWhat a beautiful motif.h

Thus, because there is a considerable amount of positive evidence, it is unnatural or even impossible to deny or ignore the possibility that Cezannefs painted representations were influenced by the transformation of the visual perception inspired by the passing sceneries viewed from a moving train by simply making an assumption without having any evidence to substantiate it. (Fig. 7).



Fig. 7 Photographer unknown
Paul Cezanne at about 32 years old around 1871.


(1) John Ruskin, Modern Painters, Volume III, London, 1856; Kessinger edition, 2005, p. 280.
(2) Cited in Walter Benjamin, gDas Passagen-Werk,h in Gesammelte Schriften, Volume V (2), Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1982; Dritte Auflage, 1989, p. 728.
(3) Wolfgang Schivelbusch, The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space in the 19th Century, Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press, 1986, p. 60.
(4) Paul Cezanne, Correspondance, recueillie, annotee et prefacee par John Rewald, Paris: Bernard Grasset, 1937; nouvelle edition revisee et augmentee, Paris: Bernard Grasset,
1978, p. 184. (English edition, New York: Da Capo Press, 1995, p. 180.)
(5) Ibid., p. 165. (English edition, New York: Da Capo Press, 1995, p. 159.)

Fig. 1-Fig. 4 was quoted from Emile Zola, Photograph: Eine Autobiographie in 480 Bildern, herausgegeben und zusammengestellt von Francois-Emile Zola und Massin, Munchen: Schirmer/Mosel, 1979.
Fig. 7 was quoted from Paul Cezanne, Correspondance, recueillie, annotee et prefacee par John Rewald, nouvelle edition revisee et augmentee, Paris: Bernard Grasset, 1978.


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