[ART HISTORY] Madame Cézanne in Blue 🎨
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) is know to have worked very slowly. His models had to be equipped with a great portion of patience and endurance to cope with the long painting sessions. It's hardly a surprise then, that most of his portraits are of himself, his wife, or his son.
The models were placed in simple, uncomplicated positions, often frontally. His starting point was mainly painterly problems and he was hardly interested in the psychological uniqueness of the individual. The most intimate and vibrant portraits are probably those of the wife. He paints her with great attention, always equally dignified. She's sitting upright with her hands in her knee and her hair parted in the middle over the facial ovulation. Since the portraits are rarely dated, the paintings have been catalogued in chronological order according to the clothing details which reflect the then current fashion.
One of my favorite portraits of his wife is Madame Cézanne in Blue (~1888–1890). Superficially, it may seem as if the wife almost becomes a still life, which he repeatedly returns to. Even though, as in this picture, we can observe both the colouristic and compositional mastery of the motif, the spiritual content is extraordinarily present, if not intrusive. The face, frontal and slightly tilted to the left, immediately captures our interest. Madame Cézanne's fixed gaze is not passive and her attitude radiates dignity. The facial ovulation constitutes the power center that is the starting point for our experience of the composition. Cézanne has further underlined this by contrasting the detailed painting of the face with the sfumato that distinguishes the surrounding parts of the image.
Colouristically, Cézanne plays with the warm ochres to the left against the wife's blue dress and the blue-tinted door on the right. When I'm satisfied with the face, my eyes happily wander to the fascinating upper left part of the painting. It's difficult to analyze what the left part of the background actually represents. It has the character of an abstract composition that easily brings to mind Polynesian patterns. The big sweeping shapes of the model's dress are set against this in yet another dialogue. I can't think of many other paintings where the contrast between a dramatic shape and a quiet content is as strong. Today, the painting can be observed in The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.
Art History is one of my lifetime passions. I believe you could make an entire series of these and have a great audience.
Thank you for your encouragement, I truly appreciate it! There will be more art related articles coming!
thank you! followed
Good stuff. A challenging painting indeed. One my favorites of his too because you are left completely on your own to judge the intent of the painter. I feel a bit of recent in her, maybe because she had better things to do around the house. Compositionally it is as unpretentious as can be. It is a snapshot really, and the large part that is her dress feels dominating, while the background is just what randomly appeared as if she was just planted without any consideration at all, or maybe just the division of the dress that extends above her head actually forming a faint cross
Yes, at least I see some restlessness in her expression, indeed. Although, Marie-Hortense was a quite experienced model and had been sitting for many artists before she met Paul. Perhaps it's just her resting face, and perhaps what we see in a face tells us more about ourselves than about the actual face. I agree about the composition and the placement, and how everything tilts to the left; it's feels so carefree, bordering sloppy. No wonder he's so often called the founding father of modern art. Interesting about the cross, never saw it that way!
I believe i heard in a documentary that their relationship were not that great and her expression often tended towards annoyance or impatience. He was a bit of a character, and actually he was a good friend of Monet and a few other impressionists. They came around his place once, but he preferred to be left alone and paint his famous mountain from yet another angle :-)... a very interesting painter indeed, one if the true giants. I particularly like his sloppy attention to surroundings. He just oaints frim the inside. Fantastic :-)
I always enjoy your art history posts. Your visual analysis is always spot on and insightful. Thank you for another good one. Cheers:)
Thank you, glad you like them! :)
I like this art... it is very good ;)