Famous Paintings Reviewed

Famous Painters: Paul Cezanne

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An art history blog post from Famous Paintings Reviewed.

Famous painters don't get more widely known and recognized than Paul Cezanne.  Born in 1839, he was one of the world's greatest artists, and arguably the most significant pioneer of Modernism.   Throughout his life, Cezanne sought to portray the "simple beauty" found in the south of France; this approach is best exemplified by Cezanne paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire, which he painted some 60 times!

Paul Cezanne, The Large Bathers.  Oil on canvas, 1906. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The legacy of Paul Cezanne is both profound and lasting; he has inspired generations of famous painters including such diverse artists as:

Georges Braque

Jasper Johns

Ellsworth Kelly

Claude Monet

Edgar Degas

Max Beckmann,  and

Picasso. The longevity of this influence is to be celebrated in "Cezanne and Beyond", a show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that will exhibit forty works by Cezanne alongside works by some of the famous artists he inspired. The show runs from 26 February to 17 May 2010 (for ticketing information, click here: Cezanne and Beyond Tickets).

In honor of this exhibit, I wondered which are the most famous Cezanne paintings, according to the art historian-authors of leading art history textbooks (for more information about methodology, see section below). 

Here are the most famous paintings by Paul Cezanne, according to these pros:

• Still Life with Basket of Apples. Oil on canvas, 1890-94. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.

• Mont Sainte-Victoire Seen from the Quarry at Bibémus. Oil on canvas, ca. 1898-06. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore.

• The Large Bathers (Grandes Baigneuses). Oil on canvas, 1900-05. Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA.

• Temptation of Saint Anthony. Oil on canvas, ca. 1870. Buhrle Collection, Zurich.

Paul Cezanne. Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1902-06.  Oil on canvas, 25 1/2 by 32".  Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

• Boy with a Red Waistcoat. Oil on canvas, 1894-95. Buhrle Collection, Zurich.

• Mont Sainte-Victoire. Oil on canvas, 1885-87. Courtauld Institute Galleries, London.

• Still Life with Plaster Cast. Oil on paper on board, ca. 1894. Courtauld Institute Galleries, London.

• Mont Sainte-Victoire with Viaduct. Oil on canvas, 1885-87. Metropolitan Museum, New York.

• The Card Players. Oil on canvas, 1890-92. Metropolitan Museum, New York.

• The Bather (Le grand baigneur). Oil on canvas, 1885-87. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

• The Card Players (Les joueurs des cartes). Oil on canvas, ca. 1885-90. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

• A Modern Olympia. Oil on canvas, 1874. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

• The Hanged Man's House. Oil on canvas, 1873. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

• Woman with Coffeepot. Oil on canvas, ca. 1895. Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

• Apples and Oranges. Oil on canvas, ca. 1895-00. Musée d'Orsa, Paris.

• Madame Cézanne in a Red Armchair (Madame Cézanne in a Striped Skirt). Oil on canvas, 1877. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

• The Large Bathers. Oil on canvas, 1900-05. National Gallery, London.

• Mont Sainte-Victoire.  Oil on canvas, 1902-06. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.

Paul Cezanne.  Madame Cezanne in a Red Armchair, 1877.  Oil on canvas, 28 1/2 by 22".  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

• Madame Cézanne. Oil on canvas, 1883-87. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.

• The Large Bathers (Grandes Baigneuses).  Oil on canvas, 1898-05. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. Above.

Methodology for Determining  The Most Famous Paintings

Nearly two dozen art history textbooks (like Gardner's, Stokstad, Kemp and Janson's) and survey books - about 17,000 pages in total - were reviewed to determine which paintings were cited and reproduced in discussing the history of painting from the 1400s to 1960s. By considering each reproduction as a "vote" for a painting's merit and significance, it was possible to deduce which paintings were deemed most prominent according to this vast pool of art historians. 

More famous painters to come!