Vase of Flowers

1900/1903

Paul Cezanne

Artist, French, 1839 - 1906

Paul Cezanne

Attributed to

A vase holding mostly white flowers sits on a floral-patterned cloth in this vertical still life painting. The ice-blue vase has a narrow foot, tall, slightly tapering sides, round shoulders, and a long neck flanked by handles. An ivory-white circle at the center could be a flower painted on the body. The flowers the vase holds are all pearl and snow white except for two golden yellow flowers and dark greenery. The cloth on which the vase sits is patterned with muted red and dark yellow flowers with green leaves against parchment white and earth brown. A few brown lines cutting across the bottom left corner of the painting could be the edge of a wooden table. Just behind the flowers, a cloth or curtain patterned with dark yellow, moss green, and spruce blue hangs against a teal-green wall, visible along each side of the composition. The objects are loosely painted and outlined with cobalt blue.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer

  • Dimensions

    overall: 101 x 81.9 cm (39 3/4 x 32 1/4 in.)
    framed: 125.1 x 106.4 x 5.1 cm (49 1/4 x 41 7/8 x 2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1958.10.2

More About this Artwork

Video:  Cézanne’s Still Lifes at His Studio

A visit to Paul Cézanne's studio and a look at some of his works.

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Ambroise Vollard [1866-1939], Paris) by 1912;[1] sold to Marius de Zayas [1881-1961] by 1916.[2] Purchased by Edward Steichen [1879-1973] for Eugene [1875-1959] and Agnes Ernst Meyer [1887-1970], Mount Kisco, New York, by 1921;[3] gift 1958 to NGA.
[1]Lent by Vollard to the 1912 Second Post-Impressionist Exhibition held at the Grafton Galleries, London.[2]Exhibited at de Zayas' Modern Gallery in New York in 1916. [3]Regarding Steichen's role, see letter dated 12 July 1977 from Katherine Graham in NGA curatorial files. Lent by the Meyers to the 1921 Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1916

  • The Modern Gallery, New York, 1916

1921

  • Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1921, no. 22

1923

  • Loan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1923

1971

  • Cezanne: An Exhibition in Honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary of The Phillips Collection, The Phillips Collection, Washington; The Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1971, no. 51, repro.

1986

  • Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad; State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, 1986.

2011

  • Cézanne: Les ateliers du Midi, Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2011-2012, no. 32, repro.

2014

  • The World is an Apple: The Still Lifes of Paul Cézanne, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia; Art Gallery of Hamilton, Ontario, 2014-2015, pl. 9.

Bibliography

1923

  • Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1923): 263.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 25.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 17, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 58, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 499, no. 740, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 79, repro.

1996

  • Rewald, John. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: a catalogue raisonné. 2 vols. New York, 1996:no. 893, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20190773

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