This watercolor—the first work by Cézanne that Henry Pearlman acquired—represents the same site that is depicted in an oil painting he aquired two years later : a shaded grove of oak trees near a stone cistern on the grounds of the Château Noir. In the canvas, Cézanne painted the clearing from a different angle, emphasizing the central, pyramidal rock. Here, he exploited the blank paper to suggest light piercing through the soaring trees, creating a sparse and airy effect that is quite distinct from the denser and more closed setting conveyed by the opaquely painted canvas.