Provenance

Edward Steichen

American, 1879 - 1973

Explore Selected Works

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.
Paul Cezanne, Vase of Flowers, 1900/1903, oil on canvas, Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, 1958.10.2

Vase of Flowers

Paul Cezanne · 1900/1903 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1958.10.2

We look across a forested ravine painted in deep greens and blues at a terracotta-orange building at the top of a hill at the center of this nearly square, loosely painted landscape. Spring and moss-green trees grow along the ravine in front of us and up the left side of the canvas. Shadows within the densely forested area are painted with slate and royal blue with touches of plum and lavender purple, and the blue continues into the sky in the upper right quadrant of the composition. The sky is visible through the pointed, arched windows on the upper level of the building, giving the impression that it might be incomplete or in ruins. The building is made up of two stories over a protruding base, which could be a fortress-like structure below or a cliff face. Loose, thick brushstrokes are visible throughout.
Paul Cezanne, Château Noir, 1900/1904, oil on canvas, Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, 1958.10.1

Château Noir

Paul Cezanne · 1900/1904 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1958.10.1

About a dozen rust-orange and golden yellow apples and peaches are arranged on a white plate next to white and floral-patterned cloths nestled around a white pitcher and bowl, all on a wood tabletop that tilts toward us in this nearly square still life painting. A curtain patterned with royal blue, olive green, and beige falls along or near the back wall of the room and rests on the table to our left. The white pitcher is painted loosely with the suggestion of harvest-gold and pale lilac-purple flowers, and it sits amid the pooling folds of the curtain to our left. The white tablecloth is bunched under and next to it to our right, at the middle of the composition. The fruit is arranged on and around a white plate next to the tablecloth. A tall bowl with fluted sides and a ruffled, scalloped rim sits behind the fruit, near the right edge of the table. The curving skirt of the table reaches nearly to the bottom edge of the canvas. All the objects in the painting are outlined with dark blue and the shadows are painted with patches of spruce and cobalt blue.
Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Apples and Peaches, c. 1905, oil on canvas, Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, 1959.15.1

Still Life with Apples and Peaches

Paul Cezanne · c. 1905 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1959.15.1

A bearded man with a coppery-peach completion, wearing a dark, navy-blue brimmed cap, vest, jacket, and pants sits on a wooden bench or chair against a green background in this vertical portrait. The scene is loosely painted with thick, visible brushstrokes in kelly and shamrock green, deep, midnight blue, tawny brown, and charcoal gray to create a mottled effect. The man’s body is angled to our right and he looks in that direction. His legs are crossed and are cropped below the knees by the bottom right corner of the canvas. His fingers are interlaced in his lap with one thumb hooked between buttons on his vest. He has a long nose and his lips are closed. Touches of vibrant robin’s egg blue, sage green, pumpkin orange, and brick red enliven the dark clothing and shadows on the man’s features.
Paul Cezanne, The Gardener Vallier, 1906, oil on canvas, Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer, 1959.2.1

The Gardener Vallier

Paul Cezanne · 1906 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1959.2.1

Bibliography

1929

  • Sandburg, Carl. Steichen, The Photographer. New York, 1929.

1963

  • Steichen, Edward. A Life in Photography. Garden City, New York, 1963.

1997

  • Niven, Penelope. Steichen: A Biography. New York, 1997.

2000

  • Haskell, Barbara. Edward Steichen. Exh. cat. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2000.