Dish of apples paul cezanne biography
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One of the many reasons the artist may have used the apple for his artistic experiments was its universal status as a fruit, one which already came laden with global meaning and cultural significance. They look quite real but this will change later…
3. While the fruit on the table is shown frontally, the perspective of the table is much more raked: in the same composition, the objects are painted from several different viewpoints.
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Still lifes were his favorite genre
Most of Paul Cézanne’s paintings are still lifes.
The artist’s approach to capturing the humble fruit sparked a radical rethinking of the painting rule book and would become a defining characteristic of his own style and character.
The French artist and post-impressionist painter Paul Cézanne was born on 19th January 1839. They were made in a studio using very simple stuff like a cloth, a vase, a bowl, or even a skull.
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The composition of "Dish of Apples" reflects Cézanne's interest in the underlying structure of objects, a theme that permeates much of his oeuvre. His experiments brought about a new direction for representation in art which challenged form, perspective and colour theory and initially shocked critics.
“Of an ordinary painter’s apple you say, ‘I could take a bite out of it.’ .
Then, apples started to look like flat balls
“Of an ordinary painter’s apple you say, ‘I could take a bite out of it.’ .
Then, apples started to look like flat balls
His works are both traditional and modern. Cézanne's technique of building form with color and his exploration of geometric simplification are evident in this painting, marking a departure from the traditional representation of still life. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
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Fast and Yummy: All We Know About Cézanne’s Fruits
Paul Cézanne was widely misunderstood by his contemporaries.
Cézanne's dedication to capturing the essence of his subjects through a meticulous study of their shapes and colors has cemented his legacy as a master of post-impressionist art.
Dish of Apples
This rich and dense still life, featuring a napkin shaped like Mont Sainte-Victoire, was painted about 1876–77 in the house of Cézanne's father in Aix.
The decorative screen visible in the background was long thought to have been made by the artist in his youth.
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The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. Even when painting portraits the artist would command his sitters to ‘be an apple!
More widely, the apple itself gathers symbolism with each artist who takes its history and form as inspiration.
Sources:
The World’s an Apple – The Still Lifes of Paul Cézanne, edited by Benedict Leca, 2014
These Apples are among his early works.
Well known for his landscape and still life paintings, he famously made the following bold statement:
“With an apple I want to astonish Paris”
Part provocation, part personal quest, Cézanne’s mission was to radically rethink how three-dimensional objects could be captured in paint and incorporate multiple viewpoints instead of one-point perspective.
. Here the artist depicts his own head in graphite on paper in direct comparison to the form of an apple, which hangs suspended alongside. Later they were just splotch of color enclosed by a line. He created an illusion of depth
Though a precursor of Cubism, Cézanne often created an illusion of depth – like in this painting, with the curtain at the back and the white sheets in the front.
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Paul Cézanne’s Painted Apples
It was with the humble apple that artist Paul Cézanne chose to challenge both his own method of painting but also the art world of Paris, famously throwing down the gauntlet with the bold statement ‘with an apple I want to astonish Paris’.
It is clear the apple has lodged itself firmly in the artist’s mind and his language of art. This work exemplifies Cézanne's innovative approach to form and color, which would later influence artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below.