978-1-4222-3257-6

cézanne

Rocks above Château Noir (c. 1904)

Still Life with a Watermelon and Pomegranates (1900-1906)

• Oil on canvas, 25.6 in x 21.3 in (65 cm x 54 cm)

• Watercolor over graphite on laid paper, 12.4 in x 19.2 in (31.4 cm x 48.8 cm)

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Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906): Still-Life with a Watermelon and Pomegranates, 1900-1906. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Watercolor over graphite on laid paper, sheet: 12 3/8 x 19 3/16 in (31.4 x 48.8 cm). The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 2001, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002. Inv. 2001.202.1. © 2013. Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence

Cézanne, Paul (1839-1906): Rocher pres des grottes au dessus du chateau noir, 1904. Paris, Musee d’Orsay. Dim. 0.65 X 0.54 m. © 2013. White Images/Scala, Florence

At the turn of the 20 th century, when Cézanne returned to his hometown, it was here that he found tranquility in Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Bibémus quarries. These subjects were to appear in many of his works and become part of his experimentation up to the time of his death. In this painting, the artist depicts a pile of rocks and tree trunks. The rocks and the trees frame the painting and help to bring the subject up close and personal with the audience. In this painting, the brush strokes are fairly allusive and helped to add to an increasingly subtle, timeless vision achieved by Cézanne. The use of colors in his unique approach was to become an essential foundation for modern paintings of the 20 th century. The painting was acquired by Matisse, who noted that Cézanne’s use of colors provided: “a force within a painting.” This work, produced two years before his death, is a solid representation and celebration of the countryside around his home. It reflects a time when he was obsessed with color – in order to give form and presence – and solidity. It shows how he wanted to portray the forces of the earth and, despite the “stillness” of the piece, there is much movement and the suggestion that it is only a matter of time before the rocks move ever downward. Again, without the obvious religious reference, there is still a nod to the relationship that the artist had found with God at this time. For Cézanne, these landscapes represented artistic inspiration coupled with a spiritual serenity.

This work consists of five rounded objects, including a melon, two pomegranates, a carafe, and a white sugar bowl – which also appears in Dish of Apples. It is an exquisite watercolor that centers its subjects on top of a table. The piece was composed using graphite to give Cézanne’s theme its form before he used transparent color to literally bring this still life to prominence. The layering, shadows, and mirroring in this work are breathtaking in their composition. He induces space, suggestion, and light by leaving elements of the canvas white; for example, note the table edge in the foreground which is completely overridden to the right of the canvas by the purple wash. There is spatial definition here while the colors give a vibrant intensity.