ABSTRACT
Cezanne’s luminous late watercolors offer a comparison point both in function and aesthetic qualities to Augmented Reality (AR) interpretations of the natural world. This chapter looks at Cezanne’s watercolors, both in their effect upon a viewer and their mode of production, with an eye to how they demonstrate what Merleau-Ponty calls “wild being.” Cezanne’s brush strokes clearly suggest the proprioceptive gesture and his whole-body attentiveness to the surrounding field. Cezanne’s late watercolors fit Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of what happens in perception. Yet Cezanne worked with different watercolor techniques, using blocks of graduated tones to support perception of planes stepping back. Cezanne tightens up his compositions with light pencil marks over some of the color washes. Cezanne’s watercolors that have been described are compatible with Merleau-Ponty’s notion of depth: his “patches do not represent materials or facets or variations of tint. The chapter concludes with questions for AR, specifically about the effects on those who experience enhanced environments.
