Woman in Front of a Still Life by Cezanne1890
A woman sits in front of a still life of fruit by Paul Cézanne, a painting Gauguin owned and prized. More about this work
About this work
A woman sits in front of a still life of fruit by Paul Cézanne, a painting Gauguin owned and prized. Gauguin painted her in 1890, and by placing his own figure before Cézanne’s canvas he paid open homage to the older artist, borrowing the parallel brushstrokes and solid forms of the still life in his own handling. Her pensive, enigmatic presence turns the picture into a dialogue between portrait and painting.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
A work made of oil on linen canvas.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Paul Gauguin
French, 1848–1903 · Born in Paris; died in Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands.
Gauguin worked as a Paris stockbroker and collected the Impressionists before taking up painting full time in the 1880s, showing in the last five Impressionist exhibitions. At Pont-Aven in Brittany he developed a style of flat colour and bold outline, and in 1888 he spent nine turbulent weeks with Van Gogh in Arles. Seeking a simpler world, he sailed for Tahiti in 1891 and spent most of his remaining years in French Polynesia, dying in the Marquesas.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Post-Impressionism
Artists who kept Impressionism's colour but pushed towards structure, symbol and feeling.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1925.753
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
