Museums: National Gallery of Art #14 (Part 1 of 2)

The National Gallery of Art is a great place to learn about art, including the evolution of art--how each artistic age/movement inspires the next.  

In the East Building's collection of modern art, we have learned how French painter Paul Cézanne inspired the art movement of Cubism and its two leading lights Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.

Bronze medallion in Aix-en-Provence depicting an elderly Paul Cézanne (copy of original designed by Auguste Renoir)

Cézanne, later in life, experimented with perspective.  Instead of adhering to a single, fixed perspective, he painted a scene from multiple perspectives.  He must have observed the same scene (a still life for example) from different perspectives--from one side, then the other, then from above and so on.  Then, Cézanne fused all of those views into his painting. The subject, at first glance, might look realistic, but a closer look reveals a fantastical image.  

One example is the painting below.    

The scene seems normal, but the top of the desk has an odd angle.  The desktop is painted as seen from above and then inserted into the painting.  If the desktop were actually at the angle indicated, everything on the desktop would slide on the floor.

Gustave Geffroy by Paul Cézanne (1895–1896)

The scene in the painting seems normal, but the top of the desk has an odd angle.  The desktop is painted as seen from above and then inserted into the painting.  If the desktop were actually at the angle indicated, everything on the desktop would slide onto the floor.  So, Cézanne's painting translates a multi-dimensional scene into a flattened image on the canvas.  

Another important example appears below.  

The milk jug and fruit should be falling off the slanted tabletop.  Instead, they rest in place in a lovely scene.  

Here are a few more Cézanne paintings with oddly angled features.

Next Up:  From Cézanne to Braque and Picasso.