Cézanne Portraits

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Cézanne Portraits is the first exhibition devoted to the famed post-impressionist’s portraits from across his career. The exhibition explores the unconventional aspects of his portraiture, the role his portraits play in the development of his radical style and method, and the range and influence of his sitters. Rather than accepting commissions for portraits, Cézanne painted them as part of his ongoing experimentation as he searched for a pictorial language to capture his intense perceptions of the world. He rarely painted people he did not know; instead he portrayed himself, his family, his friends, art-world admirers, and working-class inhabitants of his native Aix-en-Provence with whom he felt an affinity.

The exhibition brings together some 60 paintings drawn from collections around the world. They encompass his entire career and include portraits made in Paris, where he went to launch himself as an artist, and in Aix, which remained his anchor throughout his life and where he eventually settled permanently. Several paintings are exclusive to the National Gallery of Art’s presentation, while some works have never before been exhibited in the United States. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog with essays by John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Mary Morton, curator and head of the department of French paintings at the National Gallery of Art; and Xavier Rey, director of the Musées de Marseille. Also included are a biographical essay on Cézanne’s sitters by Alex Danchev and a chronology of the artist’s life by Jayne S. Warman.

The exhibition is curated by John Elderfield, chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, with Mary Morton, curator and head of the department of French paintings at the National Gallery of Art, and Xavier Rey, director of the Musées de Marseille.

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Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Uncle Dominique in Smock and Blue Cap, 1866–1867, oil on canvas, Lent by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wolfe Fund, 1951; acquired from The Museum of Modern Art, Lillie P. Bliss Collection (53.140.1)

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, The Artist's Father, Reading "L'Événement", 1866, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Self-Portrait, c. 1875, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Gift of Jacques Laroche, 1947, © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay)/Hervé Lewandowski

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Victor Chocquet, 1876–1877, oil on canvas, Private Collection, Photograph © Bridgeman Images

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Madame Cézanne in a Red Armchair, c. 1877, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bequest of Robert Treat Paine, 2nd, Photograph © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Self-Portrait, 1880–1881, oil on canvas, The National Gallery, London. Bought, Courtauld Fund, 1925, © National Gallery, London

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Madame Cézanne in a Red Dress, 1888-1890, oil on canvas, The Art Institute of Chicago, Wilson L. Mead Fund

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Woman with a Coffee Maker (Cafetière), c. 1895, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jean-Victor Pellerin, 1956, Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay)/Hervé Lewandowski

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Gustave Geffroy, 1895–1896, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Gift of the Pellerin family, 1969, Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay)/Hervé Lewandowski

 

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Man in a Blue Smock, c. 1897, oil on canvas, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. Acquired in 1980 and dedicated to the memory of Richard F. Brown

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Ambroise Vollard, 1899, oil on canvas, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d'Orsay)/Agence Bulloz

 

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Man with Crossed Arms, c. 1899, oil on canvas, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, Seated Peasant, c. 1900–1904, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Photograph © Musée d'Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Patrice Schmidt

Cézanne Portraits

Paul Cézanne, The Gardener Vallier, 1906, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer

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Organization: Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Sponsors: The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation.

The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Passes: Admission is always free and passes are not required.

Attendance: 281,325

Catalog: Cézanne Portraits. By John Elderfield et al. London: National Portrait Gallery, 2017

Other venues: Musée d’Orsay, Paris, June 13–September 24, 2017
National Portrait Gallery, London, October 26, 2017–February 11, 2018