Detail of Still Life with Apples and Pot of Primroses by Cezanne in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, August 2010

Artist: Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906)

Title: Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses

Date: ca. 1890

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 28 3/4 x 36 3/8 in. (73 x 92.4 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Bequest of Sam A. Lewisohn, 1951

Accession Number: 51.112.1

On View


Gallery Label:

Cézanne rarely painted flowering plants or fresh-cut bouquets, which were susceptible to wilting; purportedly, he preferred artificial flowers that could withstand his protracted painting sessions. All told, he included potted plants only in three still lifes, two views of the conservatory at Jas de Bouffan, and about a dozen exquisite watercolors made over the course of two decades (from about 1878 to 1906). Cézanne seems to have reserved this particular table, with its scalloped apron and distinctive bowed legs, for three of his finest still lifes of the 1890s.

This view of Chinese primroses was once owned by the ardent gardener Claude Monet.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/europe...