Aix-en-Provence, 1890s. In his studio, Cézanne observes at length a young woman leaning on her elbow. He seeks to capture far more than an appearance: he wants to capture the density of a human presence.
A Monumental Melancholy
The young woman leans on a table covered with a cloth of vibrant patterns. Her head rests in her left hand, an ancestral pose of melancholy since the Renaissance. Her expression is indecipherable, between reverie and gravity. Cézanne constructs her face with distinct brushstrokes. This technique gives the flesh tones an astonishing density. The yellow shawl dialogues with the white of the sleeves. Each brushstroke asserts a volume, creates tension. The table surface undulates beneath the fabric. The spatial instability breathes a paradoxical energy into the composition.
Cézanne and His Working-Class Models
In the 1890s, Cézanne dedicates himself intensively to the human figure. He paints laborers, gardeners, and inhabitants of Aix-en-Provence in monumental formats. These portraits transcend the picturesque to achieve universality. The painter refuses sentimental anecdote. He seeks what he calls “sensation”: that physical and psychological presence that makes a being exist fully in space. Each touch of color creates what an admirer would describe as an “impression of breathing and pulsation.”
Paul Cézanne, the Artist of Sensation
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) revolutionizes painting by questioning our perception of the world. Misunderstood by his contemporaries, he patiently develops a pictorial language that would profoundly influence Cubism and modern art. For him, to paint means to reconstruct reality through pure color.
Think about it
💭 How does Cézanne transform this simple gesture of melancholy into a radically modern experience of painting?
About This Work
- Young Italian Woman at a Table
- Paul Cézanne
- circa 1895-1900
- Oil on canvas
- 92.1 × 73.5 cm (36 1/4 × 28 15/16 in.)
- The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
- 99.PA.40
- https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/108FPZ
