Between 1899 and 1902, Cézanne worked at the Château Noir estate outside Aix-en-Provence. The neo-Gothic buildings of this peculiar country manor were unfinished, giving it the appearance of a ruin. The original owner, who manufactured lampblack (a type of pigment made from soot), had- according to rumor-painted the entire mansion black and practiced black magic, or sorcery, there, supplying the name "The Black Castle." The modern stone cistern at Château Noir seen at the left of this painting contrasts with the ancient boulder at the center; the rock's distinctive shape suggests the flint artifacts unearthed in the region. Local mythology also had it that the surrounding archaeological attractions and strange geological formations housed magical forces.
-gallery label from the Princeton University Art Museum
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Paul_C%C3%A9zanne" class="extiw" title="w:en:Paul Cézanne"><span title="French painter">Paul Cézanne</span></a>
</bdi>
circa 1900 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1900-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_University_Art_Museum" class="extiw" title="w:Princeton University Art Museum">Princeton University Art Museum</a>