How do artists move beyond representation and begin to paint sensation, atmosphere, structure, and light itself?
This immersive Smithsonian Studio Arts intensive explores the revolutionary visual language of Paul Cézanne through direct observation in the beautiful Enid A. Haupt Garden combined with an in-studio figurative painting session with a live model.
Working en plein air in the historic garden, students use watercolor, water-based inks, and water-soluble colored pencils to investigate the dynamic relationships between light, atmosphere, architecture, botanical form, and color. Through demonstrations, lectures, and individualized instruction, participants explore Cézanne’s groundbreaking approach to optical color mixing, compositional structure, painterly mark-making, and spatial construction.
Special emphasis is placed on learning how Cézanne transformed nature into shifting planes of color and rhythmic geometric form—an approach that profoundly influenced the development of modern art. Selected works by Cézanne are viewed and discussed throughout the course, alongside conversations surrounding observational drawing and painting traditions central to studio arts practice.
As a culminating studio experience, the final session transitions indoors for an immersive figure drawing and painting workshop with a live model. Inspired by Cézanne’s figurative studies and the observational traditions of classical studio training, students explore expressive mark-making, structural rendering, color modulation, and the relationship between figure and form.
This unique class offers a rare opportunity to unite landscape observation, painterly structure, and figurative interpretation within one cohesive Smithsonian Studio Arts experience.
Recommended for students with basic drawing and watercolor experience
Special Program Information
- The instructor is Sandra Gobar.
- This program includes 3 sessions, 5 hours each.
- NOTE: Registration will close for this program at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, October 2, 2026.
General Information
- This studio arts program is in person and will not be recorded.
- Please refer to the "Materials for this program" section for any applicable supply list information and/or special documents for this program.
- View Common FAQs about our Studio Arts programs.
