Once Cézanne learned that he could not purchase Chateau Noir, he decided to build a studio for himself. It took three years to build the studio at Les Lauves during which time he lived mainly at his rented room at the Chateau Noir. Once completed, he moved in immediately and spent the last four years of his life from 1902 to 1906 painting almost exclusively in the area surrounding the studio. The studio had a large window that overlooked the town of Aix and had a clear view of Mount Saint-Victoire. While working at Les Lauves, Cézanne produced the famous late period Mountain series, the Bathers series as well as his famous still lifes, which, like the mountain scenes contributed importantly in the development of cubism. Considering the amount of painting Cézanne completed during his four years at Les Lauves and the fact that he built the building for himself, one would expect him to treat the building like he treated the Jas de Bouffan. Yet, the building’s interior was often reminiscent of a bachelor’s pad, dirty, disorganized and only partially decorated. Once, two younger painters R. P. Riviére and J. F. Schnerb, visited the painter’s studio and commented on its state:
“In the corners canvases were lying about, still on their stretchers or rolled up. The rolls had been left on the chairs and had been crushed. The walls were bare, the light was crude. Half empty paint tubes silk brushes wit colors long since dried, remnants of meals that had become the subjects of still lifes covered the table” (qtd. Rewald, 242).
The description also brings up the way in which Cézanne treated his partially completed and completed works. They were “rolled up” and “left on chairs” crushing each other. This was an odd thing to do, especially for a painter who had this to say when asked what his favorite paintings were, “”mine, if I had managed to achieve what I am still seeing” (qtd. Rewald, 243). Why did Cézanne treat the possessions he loved, his studio and paintings, so badly? It could have been the laziness of an older man living alone or it could have been the result of a man who was frustrated with his inability to capture “what [he was] still seeing”. Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer. Today, Cézanne’s studio at Les Lauves has been renovated into a type of museum, which exhibits the studio as it would have looked like while the painter was using it. The rooms are complete with still life scenes set up as they appear in his most famous paintings.