Detour in Auvers

In this vertical picture, an ocher road bends widely as it leads from the bottom into the distance. On both sides of the road are bluish-green grassy areas, and in the middle stands a small house with a red roof, with a row of houses behind it. At the right, bare trees rise tall, and the sky is a pale blue. It is oil on canvas, measuring 59.7 x 49.0 cm.

According to the museum's commentary, in the summer of 1872 Cezanne traveled with his family to Pontoise, to which Pissarro had only recently moved, and began working alongside him. That autumn Pissarro introduced him to Dr. Gachet, and in 1873 Cezanne moved to Auvers, spending most of that year there devoted to landscape painting. Under Pissarro's influence, he is said to have given up his earlier interest in literary subjects and begun to look earnestly at visible nature.

This work was not shown at the first Impressionist exhibition (1874), but it was painted during his first stay at Auvers. The commentary explains that the vertical format emphasizes the road and sky, and that it already shows the seeds of the diagonal, constructive brushstrokes that would later mark Cezanne's style.

The museum also states that this work is said to have been found and purchased in 1901 at the Vollard gallery in Paris by the American collectors Mr. and Mrs. Havemeyer, together with their friend, the painter Mary Cassatt. Its provenance is that of the first Cezanne work to cross to America.