With an apple, I will astonish Paris.
Famously referred to as the ‘greatest of us all’ by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne is granted a major exhibition at Tate Modern in London, featuring 80 works that have travelled from Europe, Asia, and North and South America. 20 of those works have never been seen in the UK.
The exhibition is divided into 7 main rooms that showcase both the thematic and technical development of Cézanne's art from his early twenties up until his death. Upon entering visitors are confronted with the striking work The Basket of Apples, c.1893, lent by the Art Institute of Chicago. The first room, ‘Becoming Cezanne’, traces his early artistic career. The second room, 'Radical Times’, delves into some of Cézanne's works seemingly concerned with popular visual culture and political preoccupations. Room 3, ‘Still Life: Continuous Research’, features Cezanne’s most famous studio paintings, depicting his well-known apples. Next, in room 4, ‘Mont Sainte-Victoire’, visitors can view Cezanne’s favourite and most emblematic landscape subject.
See also: 8 Artists Inspired by the South of the France
Room 5, ‘Bathers: Tradition and Creativity’, showcases the artist’s life-long engagement with the theme of bathers, followed by room 6, ‘Cézanne: The Artist’s Artist’, which features paintings from the collections of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Jasper Johns and Henry Moore. Particularly moving is the painting Three Bathers, owned by Matisse, who is quoted as: “In the 37 years I have owned this canvas, it has sustained me morally in the critical moments of my venture as an artist. I have drawn from it my faith and my perseverance”. The last room, ‘1899-1906: Slow Homecoming’, presents a dark period of the artist’s life, following his mother’s death and the deterioration of his health and finances. Moody dark landscapes and ominous compositions with skulls finish off the exhibition.
See also: Matisse: Master of Fauvism and Simplification
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The exhibition is organised by Tate Modern and the Art Institute of Chicago, and it is curated by Natalia Sidlina, curator of International Art at Tate Modern, together with Gloria Groom, David and Mary Winton Green, Caitlin Haskell, Gary C. and Frances Comer, and Michael Raymond.
The exhibition will run until March 2023 and is open daily.
