Paul CEZANNE (1839-1906)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : France Art on paper Midi Tabletop
Chronology : 1880-1889 1887 1888 1890-1899 1890 1892 1903
See also : France Art on paper Midi Tabletop
Chronology : 1880-1889 1887 1888 1890-1899 1890 1892 1903
1883-1885 L'Estaque
2021 for sale on November 11 by Christie's
The impressionist solutions are no longer suitable to Paul Cézanne. He comes back to Provence with the aim of expressing the quintessence and the warmth of the most beautiful Mediterranean landscapes.
L'Estaque is one of his first choices, prompted by memories from his youth when his mother had rented a cottage for summer holidays. From the top of the hill and beyond the houses, the bay and the islands of Marseille offer a vast and sumptuous panorama.
In the early 1880s Cézanne rents a small house in L'Estaque, away from his family left to live in Aix. He works outdoor like the Impressionnistes, but his synthetic and cloisonné analysis of shapes and colors is paving the way for the 20th century art. He is already meticulously in quest of the perfection of colors in their whole range. He manages to provide to the viewer a sensation instead of a mere copy of the landscape.
Painted in that early phase between 1883 and 1885, L'Estaque aux toits rouges is a significant demonstrator of these fertile experiments. In this panoramic view from the top of the hill, the contrast is striking between the geometric pattern of sun bathed houses with no shadow and the blue hues of sky and sea.
This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 11, 2021, lot 10C. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
A view boldly enclosing the same panorama in a vertical format, oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm painted in 1885, was sold for £ 13.5M by Christie's on February 4, 2015, lot 8.
These pictures had a direct influence on the development of the Cubisme by Braque.
L'Estaque is one of his first choices, prompted by memories from his youth when his mother had rented a cottage for summer holidays. From the top of the hill and beyond the houses, the bay and the islands of Marseille offer a vast and sumptuous panorama.
In the early 1880s Cézanne rents a small house in L'Estaque, away from his family left to live in Aix. He works outdoor like the Impressionnistes, but his synthetic and cloisonné analysis of shapes and colors is paving the way for the 20th century art. He is already meticulously in quest of the perfection of colors in their whole range. He manages to provide to the viewer a sensation instead of a mere copy of the landscape.
Painted in that early phase between 1883 and 1885, L'Estaque aux toits rouges is a significant demonstrator of these fertile experiments. In this panoramic view from the top of the hill, the contrast is striking between the geometric pattern of sun bathed houses with no shadow and the blue hues of sky and sea.
This oil on canvas 65 x 81 cm is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on November 11, 2021, lot 10C. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
A view boldly enclosing the same panorama in a vertical format, oil on canvas 73 x 60 cm painted in 1885, was sold for £ 13.5M by Christie's on February 4, 2015, lot 8.
These pictures had a direct influence on the development of the Cubisme by Braque.
1886-1887 Pêches et Poires
2019 SOLD for £ 21M by Christie's
Paul Cézanne returns in 1878 to settle in Aix-en-Provence. He is alone to face the torment of his creativity and no longer exhibits in public. He seeks a universal art, abolishing the differences between the most disparate themes : portraits, landscapes, still lifes. Each work is reworked relentlessly up to the multi-sensory perfection desired by the artist.
Painting is the only possible medium for his interpretation of life, because it allows color harmonies. The laws of the perspective itself are not untouchable. Impressionism does not go far enough.
Emile Zola has certainly appreciated the depth of Cézanne's theories and his difficulties in sharing them. In his novel L'Oeuvre published in 1886, he stages a misunderstood painter whose idealistic passion leads to failure. A later letter from Cézanne to Zola, recently found, contradicts the legend of their breakup. Cézanne was obviously too soaked in his research to be indignant at the concern of his college friend.
On February 27, 2019, Christie's sold for £ 21M as lot 6 a still life of fruit, oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm painted in the mid 1880s. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The theme is modest and the composition is minimalist. On a rustic table without any ornament in a slightly plunging perspective, a plate contains five peaches and a pear. Another pear is placed to the right of the plate. The subtle variety of fruit color is not however the main subject of this experiment.
If the plate is placed flat on the table, its perfect circle is impossible. It is therefore inclined, at the limit of the imbalance of the fruit pyramid. Cézanne knew that realism does not exist in painting : nature is too complex to be imitated and the surface of the canvas does not allow an illusion of real space.
A probably later work gives the key to the enigma : now viewed in profile, the plate is actually tilted. This 28 x 40 cm oil on canvas was sold for $ 8.1M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2017, lot 27.
Many years later, Matisse tries an axiom according to which Cézanne was too perfectionist to make a mistake. He thus discovers the de-construction of perspective in the most seemingly simplistic still lifes by Cézanne, an artist too far ahead of his own time.
Painting is the only possible medium for his interpretation of life, because it allows color harmonies. The laws of the perspective itself are not untouchable. Impressionism does not go far enough.
Emile Zola has certainly appreciated the depth of Cézanne's theories and his difficulties in sharing them. In his novel L'Oeuvre published in 1886, he stages a misunderstood painter whose idealistic passion leads to failure. A later letter from Cézanne to Zola, recently found, contradicts the legend of their breakup. Cézanne was obviously too soaked in his research to be indignant at the concern of his college friend.
On February 27, 2019, Christie's sold for £ 21M as lot 6 a still life of fruit, oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm painted in the mid 1880s. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The theme is modest and the composition is minimalist. On a rustic table without any ornament in a slightly plunging perspective, a plate contains five peaches and a pear. Another pear is placed to the right of the plate. The subtle variety of fruit color is not however the main subject of this experiment.
If the plate is placed flat on the table, its perfect circle is impossible. It is therefore inclined, at the limit of the imbalance of the fruit pyramid. Cézanne knew that realism does not exist in painting : nature is too complex to be imitated and the surface of the canvas does not allow an illusion of real space.
A probably later work gives the key to the enigma : now viewed in profile, the plate is actually tilted. This 28 x 40 cm oil on canvas was sold for $ 8.1M by Sotheby's on November 14, 2017, lot 27.
Many years later, Matisse tries an axiom according to which Cézanne was too perfectionist to make a mistake. He thus discovers the de-construction of perspective in the most seemingly simplistic still lifes by Cézanne, an artist too far ahead of his own time.
Highlights from the most important single owner collection of Impressionist and Modern art offered for sale in London for a decade, featuring works by #Monet, #Renoir, #Cézanne, #VanGogh, #Bonnard, #Matisse and more... https://t.co/PZ3OpFMU7M pic.twitter.com/dhAJXW9NF5
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) November 27, 2018
1888 Montagne Sainte-Victoire
2001 SOLD for $ 38.5M by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg
Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence. In the early 1880s he shares his time between Pontoise and Provence. In 1886 his father dies. Paul may now marry his long time mistress Hortense and moves to Gardanne with his family.
The view on the Montagne Sainte-Victoire is magnificent from his new home. The mountain is standing out alone in a nearly symmetrical shape on the horizon. Paul takes it as a regular theme, sometimes framed by a large pine in the foreground.
New pictorial experiments are beginning. Cézanne manages to give up the optical truth of the Impressionnistes. The landscape becomes an orderly construction of geometrical shapes, providing an emotional impression of the reality.
An oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm painted in 1888 or slightly later is possibly the last one in private hands from that theme and decade. It displays the powerful Montagne is all its purity, surrounded by the countryside without a foreground. Some elements including the underlined horizon are resolutely geometrical. The colors are clear and bright.
This painting was old for $ 38.5M by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg on May 7, 2001, lot 5. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The view on the Montagne Sainte-Victoire is magnificent from his new home. The mountain is standing out alone in a nearly symmetrical shape on the horizon. Paul takes it as a regular theme, sometimes framed by a large pine in the foreground.
New pictorial experiments are beginning. Cézanne manages to give up the optical truth of the Impressionnistes. The landscape becomes an orderly construction of geometrical shapes, providing an emotional impression of the reality.
An oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm painted in 1888 or slightly later is possibly the last one in private hands from that theme and decade. It displays the powerful Montagne is all its purity, surrounded by the countryside without a foreground. Some elements including the underlined horizon are resolutely geometrical. The colors are clear and bright.
This painting was old for $ 38.5M by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg on May 7, 2001, lot 5. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1888-1890 Madame Cézanne au Fauteuil Jaune
1997 SOLD for $ 23M by Christie's
Cézanne met Hortense in 1869 when she was a 19 year old part time art school model. She matched the canon of feminine sturdiness of her time. The birth of their son in 1872 had certainly maintained this clandestine couple.
In real life Cézanne focused on his art, with a much limited interest in other people including his partner. When they finally married in 1886, Paul had no longer any feeling for her. His excuse was : "Ma femme n'aime que la Suisse et la limonade". She was for him an available model whom he installed still in an armchair just like he positioned his jars, fruit and tablecloth on his table.
The seminal opus in that series is Madame Cézanne au fauteuil rouge, painted in 1877. She looks bored, not trying to communicate. The arms folded on the lap certainly inspired the portraits in high backed armchairs by Modigliani and Picasso.
Madame Cézanne au fauteuil jaune, oil on canvas 80 x 64 cm, was sold for $ 23M by Christie's on May 12, 1997, lot 115 (not illustrated in the online catalogue).
By comparison with three similar paintings, it had been made in the apartment which the artist rented in Paris for his family from 1888 to 1890. They must be considered as color studies. The primary colors of dress, chair and wall contrast with the much elaborated color of the face.
In real life Cézanne focused on his art, with a much limited interest in other people including his partner. When they finally married in 1886, Paul had no longer any feeling for her. His excuse was : "Ma femme n'aime que la Suisse et la limonade". She was for him an available model whom he installed still in an armchair just like he positioned his jars, fruit and tablecloth on his table.
The seminal opus in that series is Madame Cézanne au fauteuil rouge, painted in 1877. She looks bored, not trying to communicate. The arms folded on the lap certainly inspired the portraits in high backed armchairs by Modigliani and Picasso.
Madame Cézanne au fauteuil jaune, oil on canvas 80 x 64 cm, was sold for $ 23M by Christie's on May 12, 1997, lot 115 (not illustrated in the online catalogue).
By comparison with three similar paintings, it had been made in the apartment which the artist rented in Paris for his family from 1888 to 1890. They must be considered as color studies. The primary colors of dress, chair and wall contrast with the much elaborated color of the face.
1888-1890 Bouilloire et Fruits
2019 SOLD for $ 59M by Christie's
For Cézanne the work of art is a challenge. The theme is of minor importance since nature can be evoked but is never copied. From the mid-1880s he studies the still life of fruit on a table as a support for his theories of shapes, colors, harmony and even movement.
A still life from that phase was sold for £ 21M by Christie's in 2019. The composition seems naively simple until we perceive the imbalance of the plate. The observer awaits the tilting that will roll the fruit onto the table.
The artist will then increase the complexity. Bouilloire et fruits, oil on canvas 49 x 60 cm painted between 1888 and 1890, offers the dynamic contrast between a heavy pot steadily placed on the table and the fruits in a precarious balance in the folds of the tablecloth.
Cézanne reworked each painting tirelessly, seeking a perfection that existed only in his own imagination. Sometimes he stops before it is finished. The handle and the body of the kettle are disjointed. A lemon or an apple that did not suit the artist left some traces without disappearing completely.
It does not matter: the variety of forms and the mingling of the colors that constitute the textures are already satisfactory. Cézanne accepts to sell this unfinished work to a collector.
Bouilloire et fruits was sold for £ 18M by Sotheby's on December 7, 1999 and for $ 59M by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 18A. Please watch the very short video shared by the auction house.
Painted in 1893 with a similar inspiration, Rideau, cruchon et compotier, oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 60M by Sotheby's in 1999. The fruit bowl is not placed on the table.
A still life from that phase was sold for £ 21M by Christie's in 2019. The composition seems naively simple until we perceive the imbalance of the plate. The observer awaits the tilting that will roll the fruit onto the table.
The artist will then increase the complexity. Bouilloire et fruits, oil on canvas 49 x 60 cm painted between 1888 and 1890, offers the dynamic contrast between a heavy pot steadily placed on the table and the fruits in a precarious balance in the folds of the tablecloth.
Cézanne reworked each painting tirelessly, seeking a perfection that existed only in his own imagination. Sometimes he stops before it is finished. The handle and the body of the kettle are disjointed. A lemon or an apple that did not suit the artist left some traces without disappearing completely.
It does not matter: the variety of forms and the mingling of the colors that constitute the textures are already satisfactory. Cézanne accepts to sell this unfinished work to a collector.
Bouilloire et fruits was sold for £ 18M by Sotheby's on December 7, 1999 and for $ 59M by Christie's on May 13, 2019, lot 18A. Please watch the very short video shared by the auction house.
Painted in 1893 with a similar inspiration, Rideau, cruchon et compotier, oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm, was sold for $ 60M by Sotheby's in 1999. The fruit bowl is not placed on the table.
Also from The Collection of S.I Newhouse, Cézanne's 'Bouilloire et fruits' realizes $59,295,000 at auction https://t.co/0XESM9gIJx pic.twitter.com/JX9L5TU85u
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 13, 2019
1889-1890 Les Pommes
2013 SOLD for $ 42M by Sotheby's
Chardin had an innovative interpretation of the still life. He wanted his painting to approach as close as possible to the truth, and brought an extreme care in the texture.
Cézanne plays with apples like an infant with cubes. Fruits are grouped within small uneven piles in which their variety of colors brings an additional appeal. Sometimes a group is interrupted by the frame as if the row of fruit was unlimited.
If we consider that the real subject is the painting itself and not the appealing fruit, Cézanne's apples anticipate abstract art. His still life puzzles the viewer by its original composition, as if it tried to tell a story or to evoke a feeling, like Kandinsky and Miro later. Each individual element is however realistic like an image by Chardin.
The group of apples for sale at Sotheby's on May 7, 2013 is both simple and bold. This oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm painted in 1889-1890 was sold for $ 42M from a lower estimate of $ 25M, lot 7. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Pommes et poires, in the same technique and size as Les Pommes, is certainly an opportunity to vary the range of colors. It was sold for $ 20M by Sotheby's in 2021.
Sold for $ 60M by Sotheby's in 1999, another composition, 60 x 73 cm, painted four years later is more ambitious. The folds of the white tablecloth generate a complex interplay of fruit, the pitcher is the referee and the curtain states that the still lifes of Cézanne are indeed dramas.
Cézanne plays with apples like an infant with cubes. Fruits are grouped within small uneven piles in which their variety of colors brings an additional appeal. Sometimes a group is interrupted by the frame as if the row of fruit was unlimited.
If we consider that the real subject is the painting itself and not the appealing fruit, Cézanne's apples anticipate abstract art. His still life puzzles the viewer by its original composition, as if it tried to tell a story or to evoke a feeling, like Kandinsky and Miro later. Each individual element is however realistic like an image by Chardin.
The group of apples for sale at Sotheby's on May 7, 2013 is both simple and bold. This oil on canvas 38 x 46 cm painted in 1889-1890 was sold for $ 42M from a lower estimate of $ 25M, lot 7. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Pommes et poires, in the same technique and size as Les Pommes, is certainly an opportunity to vary the range of colors. It was sold for $ 20M by Sotheby's in 2021.
Sold for $ 60M by Sotheby's in 1999, another composition, 60 x 73 cm, painted four years later is more ambitious. The folds of the white tablecloth generate a complex interplay of fruit, the pitcher is the referee and the curtain states that the still lifes of Cézanne are indeed dramas.
1892 Les Joueurs de Cartes
2015 SOLD for $ 21M by Christie's
In 1890, Paul Cézanne, sick and embittered, separated from his wife, is getting virtually alone with his art in his home in Aix-en-Provence. His passion to apply his artistic theories opens a highly fruitful but insufficiently documented period. Nature can not be copied in a painting. Colors and contours express the atmosphere without requiring a preliminary drawing on the canvas.
Cézanne is an experimenter of the colors. They form flat areas that come together to build the figurative scene. He paints the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, and self-portraits, and still lifes, and bathers.
In his exile away from the bourgeois society, Cézanne watches the peasants. Each one has his physical look, his straight or vaulted attitude, his behavior, his hat. The artist observes them individually before bringing them together in the group.
He chooses the theme of the card players, his deepest attempt to express, not reality, but life.. He observes humble men, a worker or a gardener of his house. They do not cheat, do not joke, they smoke and drink peacefully. They no longer need to understand the universe : they are totally focused on their useless game.
The dates and even the chronology of the five oil versions are not identifiable. One of them was in February 2012 the most expensive work of art in the world when it was reported that Qatar purchased it privately for $ 250M in a private sale.
Cézanne made several preparatory watercolors for the Joueurs de cartes. Two of them, each showing one of the major players, have such a similar format and technique that they appear as pendants, certainly as the final study before one of the oils. They were made in 1892 or shortly after.
One of them, 47 x 30 cm, was sold for $ 19M by Christie's on May 1, 2012. It features the small man who will be sitting on the right in the least animated three paintings, those showing only two players, which probably are the final versions. The sitter was identified : a gardener who worked for the artist.
The watercolor of the taller fellow, 48 x 32 cm, was sold for $ 21M by Christie's on November 9, 2015, lot 7A. A portrait of Père Alexandre was made by the same artist on the back of this paper. The image below is limited to the upper part of that card player.
Cézanne is an experimenter of the colors. They form flat areas that come together to build the figurative scene. He paints the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, and self-portraits, and still lifes, and bathers.
In his exile away from the bourgeois society, Cézanne watches the peasants. Each one has his physical look, his straight or vaulted attitude, his behavior, his hat. The artist observes them individually before bringing them together in the group.
He chooses the theme of the card players, his deepest attempt to express, not reality, but life.. He observes humble men, a worker or a gardener of his house. They do not cheat, do not joke, they smoke and drink peacefully. They no longer need to understand the universe : they are totally focused on their useless game.
The dates and even the chronology of the five oil versions are not identifiable. One of them was in February 2012 the most expensive work of art in the world when it was reported that Qatar purchased it privately for $ 250M in a private sale.
Cézanne made several preparatory watercolors for the Joueurs de cartes. Two of them, each showing one of the major players, have such a similar format and technique that they appear as pendants, certainly as the final study before one of the oils. They were made in 1892 or shortly after.
One of them, 47 x 30 cm, was sold for $ 19M by Christie's on May 1, 2012. It features the small man who will be sitting on the right in the least animated three paintings, those showing only two players, which probably are the final versions. The sitter was identified : a gardener who worked for the artist.
The watercolor of the taller fellow, 48 x 32 cm, was sold for $ 21M by Christie's on November 9, 2015, lot 7A. A portrait of Père Alexandre was made by the same artist on the back of this paper. The image below is limited to the upper part of that card player.
Paul #Cézanne, L'homme à la pipe, is another highlight from our Nov 9 Artist's Muse sale: https://t.co/K1dfaeJjwa pic.twitter.com/8dyzQjVSHv
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) October 23, 2015
1893-1894 Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier
1999 SOLD for $ 60M by Sotheby's
In 1886 Paul Cézanne inherited from his father. He found comfort in Jas de Bouffan, got married, and began the most experimental phase of his art, which would include the geometric deconstruction of the views of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire and of the still lifes. In his tabletops, he gradually breaks the laws of perspective in order to modify the respective volumes of objects.
Cézanne no longer needs his art to earn a living and does not date his works. The chronology of his still lifes can only be based on the evolution of their complexity. His vision weakened by a diabetes identified in 1890 may have prompted him to seek these new solutions.
He tirelessly changes the position of the same objects, with the same varieties of fruit, seeking the extreme limit of balance. It is only by a very careful inspection that the observer discovers that a dish is not placed on the top of the table but bent over a hidden support.
The crumpled white tablecloth becomes an essential element of the composition, bringing the impression of the imminent fall of the objects and fruits that are placed on it. The arrangements are becoming increasingly complex.
In 1893 or 1894, Cézanne painted two similar compositions, with the same jug and stemcup on the same table, and the same curtain.
Pichet et fruits sur une table is less dramatic because it does not include the tablecloth. The visual confusion is brought by the cup whose real position in relation to the table is not discernible because it is half hidden by the pitcher. This oil on paper 42 x 72 cm was sold for £ 11.8M by Sotheby's on February 3, 2010.
Rideau, cruchon et compotier dangerously distributes the fruits in the folds of the tablecloth. The cup, with a spectacular stacking of fruit, is here hidden behind a rise in the tablecloth. All this will fall to the ground in a few moments. This oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm was sold for $ 60M by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
La Corbeille de pommes, oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm kept at the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrates similar conceptions : the lower part of the cup is hidden by some fruit. Here the very tilted position of the basket is partially explained by a thick wedge whose usefulness in real life is questionable.
Cézanne no longer needs his art to earn a living and does not date his works. The chronology of his still lifes can only be based on the evolution of their complexity. His vision weakened by a diabetes identified in 1890 may have prompted him to seek these new solutions.
He tirelessly changes the position of the same objects, with the same varieties of fruit, seeking the extreme limit of balance. It is only by a very careful inspection that the observer discovers that a dish is not placed on the top of the table but bent over a hidden support.
The crumpled white tablecloth becomes an essential element of the composition, bringing the impression of the imminent fall of the objects and fruits that are placed on it. The arrangements are becoming increasingly complex.
In 1893 or 1894, Cézanne painted two similar compositions, with the same jug and stemcup on the same table, and the same curtain.
Pichet et fruits sur une table is less dramatic because it does not include the tablecloth. The visual confusion is brought by the cup whose real position in relation to the table is not discernible because it is half hidden by the pitcher. This oil on paper 42 x 72 cm was sold for £ 11.8M by Sotheby's on February 3, 2010.
Rideau, cruchon et compotier dangerously distributes the fruits in the folds of the tablecloth. The cup, with a spectacular stacking of fruit, is here hidden behind a rise in the tablecloth. All this will fall to the ground in a few moments. This oil on canvas 60 x 73 cm was sold for $ 60M by Sotheby's on May 10, 1999. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
La Corbeille de pommes, oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm kept at the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrates similar conceptions : the lower part of the cup is hidden by some fruit. Here the very tilted position of the basket is partially explained by a thick wedge whose usefulness in real life is questionable.
1895 Fruits et Pot de Gingembre
2006 SOLD for $ 37M by Sotheby's
Cézanne's still life is a continuous quest for perfection. In the Impressionniste phase, that theme enables him to be compared with old masters like Chardin. Also the temperamental artist finds some quietness in arranging real fruit for painstakingly realizing a painting. It is not by chance that his preferred fruit in art, the apple, remains steady for a very long time before going rotten.
There is no still life by Cézanne for a few years from 1880. He restarts the theme around 1886, when he starts in Gardanne a new life that excites his creativity. This is the trompe-l'oeil phase, with a quest for the unbalance that manages to simulate a motion.
The trompe-l'oeil phase comes to an end in 1895. Afterward the still lifes become rarer for several years, mostly characterized by the addition of skulls. His creativity restarts once again at Les Lauves, when the still life participates to his obsession for the perfect color and luminosity.
Nature morte aux fruits et pot de gingembre is a masterpiece from the end of the trompe-l'oeil phase. Its terminus ante quem is its exhibition by Vollard in 1895, soon after its execution.
An interesting feature of this opus is the deep ultramarine underlining of the elements, reminding the underlining of the horizon of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. A cut melon brings an unusual and much juicy freshness in its two parts, just open on the left side plus two slices on a plate at the central point of the still life. The symphony of rare colors includes intricate gradations from yellow to red.
This oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm was sold for £ 12M by Christie's on June 28, 2000, lot 10, and for $ 37M by Sotheby's on November 7, 2006, lot 18.
There is no still life by Cézanne for a few years from 1880. He restarts the theme around 1886, when he starts in Gardanne a new life that excites his creativity. This is the trompe-l'oeil phase, with a quest for the unbalance that manages to simulate a motion.
The trompe-l'oeil phase comes to an end in 1895. Afterward the still lifes become rarer for several years, mostly characterized by the addition of skulls. His creativity restarts once again at Les Lauves, when the still life participates to his obsession for the perfect color and luminosity.
Nature morte aux fruits et pot de gingembre is a masterpiece from the end of the trompe-l'oeil phase. Its terminus ante quem is its exhibition by Vollard in 1895, soon after its execution.
An interesting feature of this opus is the deep ultramarine underlining of the elements, reminding the underlining of the horizon of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. A cut melon brings an unusual and much juicy freshness in its two parts, just open on the left side plus two slices on a plate at the central point of the still life. The symphony of rare colors includes intricate gradations from yellow to red.
This oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm was sold for £ 12M by Christie's on June 28, 2000, lot 10, and for $ 37M by Sotheby's on November 7, 2006, lot 18.
Later Watercolors
1
1902-1906 Pot au Lait, Melon et Sucrier
2020 SOLD for $ 28.7M by Christie's
Paul Cézanne, like the old Dutch masters, uses still life to express light. His workshop at Les Lauves, set up in 1902, is well lit in the morning. The motley objects await on a shelf the role that the master will want to give them. He cannot work by imagination or by spontaneous construction : he chooses in advance the elements of his next assembly and determines distance and perspective.
He is a perfectionist of geometric projection. The paper is flat but the fruits are volumes that the light reaches through their middle. Breakfast utensils, such as a teapot or sugar bowl, are also convex.
The work begins with a drawing of the outlines on a sheet of paper. Each surface is filled with colors that reflect the lighting zones without overlapping. This phase should be intermediate but Cézanne is never satisfied : the finished product, which is oil on canvas, becomes scarce. His rare visitors, like Emile Bernard, are disconcerted by the complexity and slowness of his creative process. His reinterpretation of nature is so innovative that he creates modern art.
On October 6, 2020, Christie's sold as lot 13 for $ 28.7M a still life in watercolor and gouache made in the largest paper size used by the artist, 48 x 62 cm. The focal point is the green melon, with its bright color and its central position in the image. It is however placed on the other side of the table, partially hidden by the milk jug and the sugar bowl.
He is a perfectionist of geometric projection. The paper is flat but the fruits are volumes that the light reaches through their middle. Breakfast utensils, such as a teapot or sugar bowl, are also convex.
The work begins with a drawing of the outlines on a sheet of paper. Each surface is filled with colors that reflect the lighting zones without overlapping. This phase should be intermediate but Cézanne is never satisfied : the finished product, which is oil on canvas, becomes scarce. His rare visitors, like Emile Bernard, are disconcerted by the complexity and slowness of his creative process. His reinterpretation of nature is so innovative that he creates modern art.
On October 6, 2020, Christie's sold as lot 13 for $ 28.7M a still life in watercolor and gouache made in the largest paper size used by the artist, 48 x 62 cm. The focal point is the green melon, with its bright color and its central position in the image. It is however placed on the other side of the table, partially hidden by the milk jug and the sugar bowl.
'The greatest Cézanne watercolour to be offered in decades' — #Cézanne's Nature morte avec pot au lait, melon et sucrier from the collection of Edsel & Eleanor Ford House will be offered in the 20th Century Evening Sale on 6 October in New York: https://t.co/gJGcA3KMtr pic.twitter.com/Ss3mrhbAH9
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) August 30, 2020
2
1902-1906 Melon Vert
2007 SOLD for $ 25.5M by Sotheby's
Also from the last period of Cézanne, a Nature morte au melon vert is another close-up still life similarly focused on a green melon behind a goblet.
This watercolor and pencil 32 x 48 cm was sold for $ 25.5M by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 14M, lot 8.
This watercolor and pencil 32 x 48 cm was sold for $ 25.5M by Sotheby's on May 8, 2007 from a lower estimate of $ 14M, lot 8.
