The plateau of Bibémus stretches towards the village of Tholonet and Mount Sainte-Victoire. The area has long been quarried for building stone. Cézanne went there to paint the stone reserves of the town of Aix, its very foundation.

The texture of the rock gives it a luminous yellow ochre color, rich in harmonic tints. Cézanne could not remain unmoved by the contrasting geometric shapes of the rocks and the dramatic cliffs. The magic of the quarries depends on the subtle interplay of order and disorder, mineral and vegetable. In artistic terms, Bibémus is not only like Cézanne in character, but also laden with Cubist, Fauvist or abstract features. It is no coincidence that the works which Cézanne created there were an inspiration to Braque, Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky and Mondrian.