# Still-Life with a Watermelon and Pomegranates

**Paul Cézanne** (French, 1839–1906)  
1900–1906  
Watercolor over graphite on laid paper  
sheet: 12 3/8 x 19 3/16 in. (31.4 x 48.8 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2001.202.1. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/343735).

## About this work

A watermelon, pomegranates and other objects are suggested rather than described in overlapping, translucent washes of watercolour over light pencil, with much of the white paper left bare. In his last years Cézanne made many still life watercolours like this, building form from patches of colour that seem to vibrate against one another. The empty spaces are as important as the painted ones, letting light flow through the composition.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Paul Cézanne painted this in 1900–1906, aged about 61. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Watercolour.** Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.
- **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: Drawings
- The artist was about 61
- Real size: about 12 × 19 in (31 × 49 cm). The 16 × 20 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Post-Impressionism](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/post-impressionism)
- Subjects: Pomegranates, Still Life
- 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/1044.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1044/1920.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
- 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
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- 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

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/still-life-with-a-watermelon-and-pomegranates-met-343735).