The Art Institute of Chicago

The Plate of Apples

Oil on canvasPaul Cezanne (French, 1839–1906)/c. 1877

Description

The lozenge-shaped pattern of the wallpaper identifies the setting for this still life as the Paris apartment where Paul Cezanne and his family lived between 1875 and 1879. Here, the artist disrupted expectations for painting at the time by tipping the tabletop and plate forward toward the viewer and constructing a table with edges that don’t quite align. These disorienting details are complemented by the heavy, almost sculptural forms he created by using a pointed tool—possibly the end of his brush handle—to incise contours into semi-dry paint around the plate and some of the apples.

Provenance

Eugène Murer, Auvers–sur–Oise and Paris, before Oct. 1887 [see Trublot 1887 and Rewald 1996]. Galerie Heinrich Thannhauser, Munich, by 1916 [Berlin 1916]. F. Schoen, Berlin [accordind to correspondence from P. Rosenberg and Co. to W. Brewster, Feb. 25, 1930, copy in curatorial file]. Paul Cassirer, Berlin, Sept. 29, 1925 [this and the following according to Rewald 1996; Paul Cassirer archive, PC18965]. J. K. Thannhauser, Lucerne, Switzerland, Feb. 2, 1926. Paul Rosenberg and Co., New York and Paris, by 1930 [this and the following according to Rosenberg to Brewster, Feb. 25, 1930]; sold to Walter S. Brewster, Chicago, (1872–1954), Feb. 15, 1930; Kate L. Brewster (Mrs. Walter S. Brewster; 1879–1947), Chicago; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.

Dimensions

45.8 × 54.7 cm (18 1/8 × 21 1/2 in.)

Source

The Art Institute of Chicago

Movement / Period

Post-Impressionism

Accession No

65811

Official Citations

[The Art Institute of Chicago Official Record][Full Resolution Image]

Curatorial Affinity Stream

Continuing the Universe of Paul Cezanne (French, 1839–1906)

Post-Impressionism • France • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries

Continuous Discovery