Provenance

Auguste Pellerin

French, 1852 - 1929

Explore Selected Works

Edouard Vuillard, Women Sewing, c. 1912, glue on paper on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.43

Women Sewing

Edouard Vuillard · c. 1912 · glue on paper on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.43

A light-skinned man with thick black hair and a squared off black beard, dressed in a black jacket over a gray vest and gray trousers, sits facing us in this vertical portrait painting. This work is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes so some details are difficult to make out. The man's body faces us but he looks down and to our left. The tip of his nose almost matches the coral red of his lips. Two pale peach patches below his mouth break up his beard on his pointed chin. His hands, closed into fists, rest on his thighs, which are cropped by the bottom of the canvas. He wears several layers of clothing. The open black jacket reveals a charcoal-gray vest with a V-shaped opening over another black garment, perhaps an undervest. This is worn over a white shirt, which is visible as bright traingles at this throat and white cuffs at his wrists. The white shirt seems to be tied with a black tie and possibly a gray cravat, but this area is broadly painted. The background is painted with gray strokes over black. The artist signed the painting in black paint in the lower right corner, though it is barely visible: “P. Cezanne.”
Paul Cezanne, Antony Valabrègue, 1866, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1970.35.1

Antony Valabrègue

Paul Cezanne · 1866 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.35.1

We look across a placid pond at sandstone-white buildings with brown and terracotta-red roofs nestled within a grove of green trees and plants in this vertical landscape painting. To our left, the brown roofs cover extensions to the main building, which has the terracotta roof. Between us and the buildings, the remains of a slate-gray wall are partially hidden by a vine or tree. The plants in front of the buildings are created with short daubs of yellow and green with touches of blue. The pond or other small body of water close to us spans the lower width of the canvas. The plants are reflected in the water's smooth surface. The trees to our right and behind the house have olive-green trunks stretching beyond the top edge of the composition. Their leaves blend together to fill the space next to and behind the house with a patchwork of shades of emerald, pine, and celery green. These greens are layered with short, angled strokes over smoother patches, and they fill the upper third of the composition. Patches of orange and a slice of azure-blue sky are visible among the leaves on the left side over the brown roofs. The artist has signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “P. Cezanne 73.”
Paul Cezanne, House of Père Lacroix, 1873, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.102

House of Père Lacroix

Paul Cezanne · 1873 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.102

A man sitting in a tall, upholstered armchair reads a newspaper in this vertical portrait painting. The man and the room in which he sits is loosely painted with bold, visible strokes throughout. He holds the paper close to his face, and the top edge falls over so we can read the title, “L’EVENEMENT.” He has a light, olive-toned complexion, and his white hair peeks from under a close-fitting black cap. He wears a high-necked white shirt under a chocolate-brown jacket, steel-gray trousers, white socks, and camel-brown shoes. The fabric on the chair is painted with broad brushstrokes to create a loose floral pattern on a white background. The man and chair are outlined in black. The man sits in the corner of a room with a closed door behind him to our right. Hanging on the wall over his head, and partially obscured by it, is a small, possibly unframed, still life painting with what could be kelly-green fruit and a royal-blue cup against a black background.
Paul Cezanne, The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement", 1866, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1970.5.1

The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement"

Paul Cezanne · 1866 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.5.1

A cleanshaven man wearing a black and red diamond-patterned costume and holding a white wooden sword tucked under one arm stands in a room with a blue background in this vertical painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes that make patches of mottled color. The man stands with his body angled to our right and seems to look down in that direction, though the dark eyes are loosely painted. His right eyebrow, closer to us, is a dark, curving arch. Touches of pink suggest rosy cheeks, and only a subtle swipe of pink suggests a mouth, which appears to be missing when seeing this work from afar. An arctic-blue cap curves widely down over the ears like an upside-down crescent moon. Some transparent swipes of black could be a lace or feather collar around the costume’s neckline. The hand we see, near the end of the sword, is oversized and painted in tones of fog blue and beige. The right foot steps in front of the left. He wears black shoes, and the toes are turned out. The wall behind the man is dappled with spruce blue, laurel green, and some touches of pinkish tan. A darker baseboard separates the wall from the floor below, which is made with patches of sky blue, rust red, pale pink, and olive green. The swag of a curtain, in shades of goldenrod yellow and muted teal blue, hangs on the wall behind the person’s head.
Paul Cezanne, Harlequin, 1888-1890, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.7

Harlequin

Paul Cezanne · 1888-1890 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.7

Bibliography

1929

  • Obituary, Cicerone XXI (1929):694-5.

1978

  • Monneret, Sophie, L'Impressionnisme et son Époque 4 vols. Paris, 1978-1981:II:114

1989

  • Les Donateurs du Louvre. Paris, 1989:287-288

1995

  • Cezanne. Exh. cat. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 1995:573

1996

  • Rewald, John. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York, 1996: 338-342