Cézanne constructed the painting on five different pieces of canvas that were pieced together over time. His brushstrokes cut across pieces of canvas to create one cohesive image, but the addition of these pieces “provides an explanation of [the painting’s] development.” This multi-canvas technique was rare for Cézanne, but was not unique among the Impressionists; Degas also used this technique, but any direct connection between the two is unlikely. Here, the mountain is clear and pristine, its contours painted with a “brilliant” blue. The western slope is constructed with minute, transparent brushwork over a white primer, and reflects the light shining over the landscape, while the northern slope is darkened in shadow. The sky is painted in even strokes of green, blue, and lavender, with patches of white interjected as passing clouds, while the valley rolls forward in layers of green and ocher towards the farmhouse, which stands firm and geometric among the surrounding, more musical trees and fields. Broader and wetter brushstrokes accompany the composition downwards, along with tighter and more constricted color modulations, while to the right of the mountain, the upright brushstrokes in the plain likewise get broader and more energetic. This conveys a sense of acceleration from left to right, to the point of the space seeming to bend as the brushstrokes get larger and the color gets thinner. The greens and blues in the right third of the sky also get more energetic and abstract and sweep off the canvas. Much of the canvas is left bare in the energy and excitement in which Cézanne produced the painting, but still, the small farmhouse is clearly defined, establishing rhythm and recession. Cézanne’s vision for the painting seems to have shifted as he worked on it, as evidenced by the additional strips of canvas and changing energy and style of brushstrokes. Throughout the painting, it is clear that Cézanne wrestled with the issue of trying to convey color while also expressing distance. The work's energy, geometric quality, and abstract look is emblematic of Cézanne’s work during this late period. Reception In general, Cézanne’s Mont Sainte-Victoire series “have been discussed in the grandest terms.” They are considered to represent Cézanne’s transformation into the highest mode of his artistic ideals. Lionello Venturi, for example, described the Mont Sainte-Victoire paintings as part of a “cosmic” creation, noting that “The structure is more and more implied, and less and less apparent.”