A birthday visit to the Cezanne exhibition at Tate Modern, with 140 pictures spanning his life’s work.
One of my favourite artists, I knew Cezanne for his shimmering impressionist landscapes of Provence and for obsessional reworkings of still lifes to achieve stunning technical mastery, and these two genres were brilliantly illustrated by this internationally sourced exhibition.
Several art students were sketching his compositions…
That still life of the 1890s illustrates one of his masterstrokes - the blue ‘l’indienne’ tablecloth fabric appears flat and distant, while above it the apples and earthenware leap off the 2D canvas in glorious 3D, all achieved by apparently careless application of colour. It’s a quite magical effect.
This doesn’t translate well to the photograph (or to reproductions on the web, for example: https://static.greatbigcanvas.com/images/singlecanvas_thick_none/getty-images/still-life-with-apples-by-paul-cezanne,2144833.jpg?max=800 ), so I strongly urge anyone interested to go to see the original (the exhibition runs until March 12th).
Another room concentrated on his favourite landscape subject, the peak of Mont Sainte-Victoire rising behind Aix-en-Provence. I loved the way he built up a detailed whole from an apparently random cacophany of brush strokes, as I’ve tried to illustrate by pulling back from a couple of examples here…
While a few serious visitors were crafting their own interpretations with traditional pencil and paper, many others were feverishly snapping dozens of the images with their phones - I wonder how many of these ever get looked at again?
I was only vaguely aware that Cezanne had also created a deal of figurative work, both portraits and classically-inspired images of bathers, but I found the examples included less gripping and frankly somewhat crude against the luscious riches of the other rooms. It was interesting to see examples of his pallettes and watercolour trays, richly impastoed with swirls of subtle hues, while there were sketchbooks and other ephemera also to enjoy.
Finally I took a tour of a couple of the general collection rooms in the building - there’s always a stylish and arty crowd visiting Tate Modern, and I had a little fun imaging some of the slow-shutter escalator wraiths that haunt the building…
Checks
Are you happy here, homey?
Tangle.
Escalator wraiths 1.
Escalator wraiths 2.