# Bather With Outstretched Arms (recto); Study of a Tree (verso)

**Paul Cézanne** (French, 1839–1906)  
1874/77  
Graphite on cream laid paper (pieced)  
17.9 × 11.1 cm (7 1/16 × 4 3/8 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2019.840. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/202383).

## About this work

A nude bather stands with arms flung wide, sketched in graphite in the mid-1870s, a figure related to the bathers that Cézanne returned to throughout his career. He rarely worked from the nude model, relying instead on memory, earlier drawings and the study of art, and the figure has an awkward, expressive energy. On the back of the sheet is a study of a tree, a reminder that figure and landscape were always intertwined in his thinking.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Paul Cézanne painted this in 1874/77, aged about 35. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of graphite on cream laid paper (pieced).

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Graphite.** Pencil. Graphite has been used for drawing since the 1500s; in 1795 Nicolas-Jacques Conté mixed it with clay, so its hardness could be graded.
- **Laid paper.** Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.

### [Paul Cézanne](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/paul-cezanne)

French, 1839–1906; born in Aix-en-Provence; died in Aix-en-Provence

Cézanne divided his life between Paris and his native Aix-en-Provence. Encouraged by his schoolfriend Émile Zola and later by Pissarro, with whom he painted at Pontoise and Auvers in the 1870s, he showed at the first and third Impressionist exhibitions. He then withdrew to Provence and worked towards a more structured art, building form from patches of colour in still lifes, bathers and repeated views of Mont Sainte-Victoire. Younger painters, Picasso and Braque among them, saw him as a founder of modern painting.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Drawing and Watercolor
- Culture: France
- The artist was about 35
- Real size: about 6½ × 4½ in (17 × 11 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/351.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/351/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/bather-with-outstretched-arms-recto-study-of-a-tree-verso-aic-202383).