A Day on the Mountain

Documentary on painter Paul Cézanne in which three modern artists retrace his journeys around Mont St Victoire

Presenters
Liz Lochhead
Patrick Hughes
Thomas Joshua Cooper

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) has been called the founder of modern painting. Both Matisse and Picasso paid tribute to him. A highly knowledgeable artist who studied the styles of the old masters before him, Cézanne pioneered new ways with colour and technique, and helped blaze the trail away from representational to modern art.
This programme travels to the South of France for a unique and comprehensive insight into the life and work of "the painter's painter". Cézanne's experimental use of colour, brushwork and perspective, his vivid still lifes and his erotic and mysterious Bathers all combine to make him one of the most admired of artists.

But one image, Mont Saint Victoire in his native Provence, he painted over and over again, trying to define form, color and light. In this film, three artists explore the power and influence of Cézanne's beloved mountain, and, inspired by his work, create their own piece of art.
Liz Lochhead climbs the mountain from where she writes 'Journeyman', a poem about Cézanne's struggle to achieve harmony in his work.

Patrick Hughes, a perspective artist, cycles round the mountain, viewing it from all sides in order to create a piece of three-dimensional art to represent its various angles: "Cézanne never worked from his imagination; he always worked from his sensations and his palette. It was a two-way thing Cézanne and the mountain."

Photographer Thomas Joshua Cooper explores Mont Saint Victoire and photographs part of it, inspired by Cézanne's portrayal. He says of his quest: "I've learnt something about the spirit of Cézanne. Some people can see things that transform the way we see the world." To complete the portrait, the film also includes tableaux vivants based on some of Cézanne's masterpieces, extracts from his letters and journals, and a moving re-creation of the last workaholic days of the artist's life.