Artwork
Still Life with Apples
Still Life with Apples is an oil painting by the Post-Impressionist artist Paul Cézanne. It dates from 1898 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1898, Still Life with Apples is an oil painting on canvas that belongs to the still‑life tradition. Executed during the later phase of the Post‑Impressionist era, the work presents a modest tabletop scene that includes apples, a pitcher, a bowl and a draped cloth against a muted brown wall.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on a group of apples rendered in red, green and yellow tones, arranged on a white cloth. Accompanying objects, a white pitcher and a shallow bowl, provide a quiet counterpoint, inviting contemplation of ordinary domestic items as subjects worthy of careful visual study.
Technique & Style
Cézanne employs layered brushstrokes that build up surface texture and suggest shifting viewpoints within a single picture plane. The treatment of form emphasizes underlying geometry, with the apples and vessels constructed from simplified planes that convey a sense of spatial depth without relying on strict linear perspective.
History & Provenance
The painting was produced in the final decade of Cézanne’s career, a period marked by his exploration of structural composition. It entered private collections shortly after its completion and later passed through several European dealers before being acquired by a public museum in the mid‑20th century.
Context
Still Life with Apples illustrates the artist’s role as a bridge between Impressionism’s focus on light and the emerging Cubist interest in geometric abstraction. Its method of dissecting everyday objects into basic shapes influenced subsequent generations of modern painters who sought to reconcile perception with form.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Paul Cézanne ( say-ZAN, UK also siz-AN, US also say-ZAHN; French: ; Occitan: Pau Cesana; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation,…
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