What a vision in this canvas where Cézanne deploys his full genius as a pictorial composer! In this Mediterranean light-bathed shoreline, we witness a visual symphony where each figure occupies its place in a mysterious equilibrium.
The figures, distributed with apparent casualness yet calculated with precision, create a silent ballet across the painting’s different planes.
In the foreground, groups of figures in varied poses—busy fishermen, elegant women with parasols, playing children—coexist in a space that defies perspective. Cézanne’s unmistakable brushwork constructs volumes through colored planes and juxtapositions of vibrant colors: deep blues of sky and water converse with acidic greens of meadows and luminous ochres of tree trunks.
Additional Information
- The Fishermen (Fantastic Scene) by Paul Cézanne, c. 1875
- 21 3/4 x 32 1/4 in. (55.2 x 81.9 cm)
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York, Gallery 826
- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/438136
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), tutelary figure of pictorial modernity, moved through the Impressionist period, while forging a radically personal path that heralded the revolutions of the 20th century. This work belongs to a pivotal period when the artist, after his initial Impressionist explorations, began developing his singular language of simplified volumes and multiple perspectives.
A solitary, obstinate worker far from Paris, this rebellious son of an Aix banker tirelessly pursued his quest for a “concrete painting” where sensation and construction reconcile. Misunderstood during his lifetime, he would become one of the fathers of modern art, inspiring Picasso, Matisse, and many others.
