Description
The table in this still life of flowers and fruit appears in several of Paul Cezanne’s other paintings, although scholars do not agree about which of the artist’s residences housed this piece of furniture. As is typical of Cezanne’s work, the painting is carefully considered and the composition hard won: the traces of at least three other pieces of fruit (presumably oranges) at lower left and near the vase attest to the artist’s changing opinion as he struggled to make the arrangement work. Even in the final version, there remains a tense spatial relationship between the objects, which seem to float in the picture plane rather than being anchored to the tabletop.
Provenance
Victor Chocquet (1821–1891), Paris; by descent to his wife, Mme. Chocquet (née Marie Buisson; died 1899), Paris; sold, Chocquet Collection, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, July 4–5, 1899, lot 13, as Fleur et Fruits for 1,300 francs to Durand–Ruel; Galerie Durand–Ruel, Paris and New York [see annotated sale catalogue, the Art Institute of Chicago and Gazette de l’Hôtel Drouot, 4 July 1899; Durand–Ruel stock no. 8154: Cézanne, Fleurs et Fruits 1880, based on label on reverse and information on Registrar Archival Card]. Annie S. Coburn (Mrs. Lewis L. Coburn; 1856–1932), Chicago, May 19, 1924; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.
Dimensions
59.6 × 42.3 cm (23 1/2 × 16 5/8 in.)
Movement / Period
Accession No
14561
Official Citations
Curatorial Affinity Stream
Continuing the Universe of Paul Cezanne (French, 1839–1906)
Post-Impressionism • France • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries
Continuous Discovery