Apples, Bottle and Chairback

In his studio in the hills north of Aix-en-Provence, Paul Cézanne produced an important group of still-life watercolours, of which this work is among the most magnificent. Remarkable for their freedom, imagination and sense of movement, and generally made on a large scale, in these later watercolours the artist pushed the boundaries of the medium. Rather than attempting an objective reproduction of nature, the artist sought to convey his personal vision of it. This watercolour is a technical tour de force of looping, zigzagging pencil marks and brushstrokes combined to form an image that appears effortless. Cézanne laid out the composition in graphite before developing it with multi-layered applications of translucent and opaque washes. This skilful dialogue between graphite line and primary colours, as well as the luminosity of the bare paper, create an evocative effect that distances these objects from reality and moves them into the realm of pure imagination.