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Cat. 1 Auvers, Panoramic View, 1873–75 Cat. 2 The Plate of Apples, c. 1877 Cat. 3 Standing Bather, Seen from the Back, 1879–82 Cat. 4 The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque, c. 1885 Cat. 5 Montagne Sainte-Victoire, c. 1885 Cat. 6 Road in Provence, c. 1885 Cat. 7 Madame Cezanne in a Yellow Chair, 1888–90 Cat. 8 The Vase of Tulips, c. 1890 Cat. 9 A Study for the Card Players, 1890–92 Cat. 10 The Basket of Apples, c. 1893 Cat. 11 The Bathers, 1899–1904 Cat. 12 Pistachio Tree at Château Noir, c. 1900 Cat. 13 The Three Skulls, 1902–6 Cat. 14 Man Wearing a Straw Hat, 1905–6

1942 457 The Bathers
Cat. 11

The Bathers
1899–1904
Oil on canvas; 51.3 × 61.7 cm (20 3/16 × 24 1/4 in.)
The Art Institute of Chicago, Amy McCormick Memorial Collection, 1942.457
FWN 976

Evolution

Cezanne made fewer bather pictures (around one hundred and thirty) than landscapes, still lifes, or figure compositions. Their relative scarcity, however, does not imply that this genre was less important than the others but instead reflects the fact that it combine all three. And indeed, Cezanne spent a substantial amount of time in the last dozen years of his life working on three large bather compositions that are arguably the summation of his oeuvre.1

The Chicago painting shares figures with these paintings and with other Bathers from the early 1870s. It also has more distant antecedents in Cezanne’s own so-called erotic compositions and in works by other artists dating as far back as antiquity. To address these relationships and their implications, it is necessary to identify the number of figures and their poses. Unfortunately, this task is hampered by the disagreement between the two scholars who have studied these issues most thoroughly, Mary Louise Krumrine and Giulia Ballas. Both count thirteen figures in The Bathers, but they only agree on twelve of these—each author identifying one figure the other does not.[1] Krumrine and Ballas also designate the figures differently and sometimes trace their origins to different precursors.2

The fourteen figures in The Bathers identified between the two authors are represented in a colored schematic (fig. 11.1).[2] The disputed figures are the sixth and seventh from the left (in orange). The lower one is half-length, seen from behind, and raises her right arm. The figure above her, partly hidden by the first, faces left and bends forward, forming a pair with the purple figure to the left. Although the paint in this area of the canvas is loosely applied (fig. 11.2), it is possible to identify the lower figure’s head, back, and at least the lower part of her upraised right arm. The figure above is less readily identifiable, although part of her back, thighs, and buttocks can be seen. But she can be identified with greater certainty by tracing her antecedents and descendants. Notably, she occurs opposite her counterpart (alongside several other figures from the Chicago painting) in the center of a roughly contemporary watercolor (fig. 11.3).[3] The pair also reappear in at least two other contemporary or later works.[4]3

Figs. 11.1–11.3

Fig. 11.1


Schematic of the figures in Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457. Adapted from Mary Louise Krumrine, Paul Cézanne: The Bathers (Thames and Hudson, 1990); and Giulia Ballas, Cézanne: Baigneuses et baigneurs: Thème et composition (Biro, 2002).

Fig. 11.2


Detail of the disputed figures in Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

Top area shows dense green and blue foliage with small openings of light blue sky. Across the center, a large group of nude adults with light skin tones are arranged closely; many have long hair drawn in brown lines, with some seated facing inward and others standing at the edges, including a figure at left seen from the back reaching toward a seated person and a pair at right with arms lifted. Bottom area is green-blue ground with darker patches and a small pale shape near the center; the figures are large in scale, filling most of the lower half.

Fig. 11.3


Paul Cezanne (French, 1839–1906). Bathers, 1900–1906 (FWN 2042). Watercolor on laid paper; 25.7 × 41.9 cm (10 1/8× 16 1/2 in.). Sammlung Oskar Reinhart, “Am Römerholz,” Winterthur, Switzerland.

There are cases, however, where the uniqueness of the figures is not clearly established. It is unclear, for example, whether the sitting bather second from left (in green in the schematic) is simply the mirror image of the seated bather third from the right (also in green).[5] Similarly, the figures (in maroon and pink) fourth and second from the right with their arms raised above their heads may or may not be variants of the same figure.[6]4

Because most figures in The Bathers have both predecessors and successors in the other paintings on the same theme, identifying them makes it possible to locate Chicago’s painting within the evolution of the Bathers as a series. More specifically, while most of the figures have several long-standing antecedents, some have only a few recent prototypes. Among these, the disputed figure toward the center leaning to the left (in orange) has only one predecessor but several successors, which suggests she came late in the series. Similarly, the reclining figure (in black) fourth from the left has no obvious prototype in Cezanne’s work but does have one descendant, implying that she is also a latecomer.[7]5

The distribution of figures in the Chicago painting also illuminates its relationship to the three large paintings of the same subject: The Large Bathers (Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia) (fig. 11.4), the slightly later Bathers (National Gallery, London) (fig. 11.5), and the even later The Large Bathers (Philadelphia Museum of Art) (fig. 11.6). There is much disagreement among scholars as to when they were painted, but most accept that the series began in the mid-1890s and that Cezanne worked on it until his death.[8] Nevertheless, there is a pattern to the relationship between the distribution of figures across the series. Five of the figures in the Chicago Bathers appear in the Barnes Bathers.[9] Three of these reoccur in the London Bathers, as do three more types.[10] Seven of these eight types appear in the Philadelphia Bathers, but no further figures do. The implication of this pattern is not unequivocal, but—taken together with the broader development of the figures—it does suggest that the Chicago Bathers was begun around the same time as the London painting and prior to the Philadelphia picture.[11] What is more, the organization of the landscape and its trees recalls that of the London painting, while the distribution of the figures into two separate groups on either side of a void is close to the composition of the Philadelphia painting.6

Figs. 11.4–11.6

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Fig. 11.4


Paul Cezanne. The Large Bathers, c. 1894–1906 (FWN 980). Oil on canvas; 132.5 × 219 cm (52 3/16 × 86 1/4 in.). Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, BF 934.

3379

Fig. 11.5


Paul Cezanne. Bathers, 1895–1905 (FWN 979). Oil on canvas; 127.2 × 196.1 cm (50 1/16 × 77 3/16 in.). The National Gallery, London, NG6359.

The Large Bathers

Fig. 11.6


Paul Cezanne. The Large Bathers, 1906 (FWN 981). Oil on canvas; 210.5 × 250.8 cm (82 7/8 × 98 3/4 in.). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund, 1937, W1937-1-1.

Identifying the figures in The Bathers is vital to understanding their evolution from their sources and, more importantly, the implications carried by these metamorphoses. It is not always possible, however, to specify derivations of this kind with certainty, not least because some of Cezanne’s figures have multiple sources. One such borrowing is the seated figure facing right (in green) second from the left. Her pose is very likely modeled on earlier bathers who themselves are based on the seated nude in Édouard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass (fig. 11.7), the succès de scandale of the 1863 Salon des Refusés, which Cezanne visited.[12] Manet’s figure derives in turn from a river god just to the right of center in Marcantonio Raimondi’s engraving of The Judgement of Paris after Raphael (fig. 11.8).[13] Cezanne’s appropriation of this figure could be regarded as symptomatic of a lack of imagination, but it makes more sense to think that it evinces his ambition to place himself in the tradition of old and modern masters alongside Raphael and Manet. And indeed, Cezanne told Roger Marx in 1905, “One does not replace the past, one only adds a new link.”[14]7

In the foreground, a nude adult with light skin sits on blue fabric between two adults in black and gray suits; the center figure sits upright, and the right figure reclines with legs outstretched, gesturing and holding a walking stick. At the lower left, picnic items include a straw hat, a white basket with bread and red-brown fruit, and more blue and white cloth. In the middle ground, an adult in a pale dress kneels at the edge of a shallow stream. The background contains dense green trees and foliage, with the distant figure smaller than those in front.

Fig. 11.7


Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883). Luncheon on the Grass, 1863. Oil on canvas; 207 × 265 cm (81 1/2 × 104 5/16 in.). Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Gift of Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, 1906. © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Benoît Touchard / Mathieu Rabeau.

At the top, clouds hold a large circular disk with small figures inside, a winged adult moving leftward, and a line of adults riding horses; to the right, two adults sit on a large bird while another lifts a broad round object. In the middle, a cluster of nude adults stand and interact among trees and rocks, with one kneeling and offering a vessel and a small winged child reaching up. At the bottom, three seated adults and a reclining adult rest beside tall reeds and water, and another seated adult with an animal appears at the far left. The scene is in black, white, and gray, with figures ranging from the small child to larger reclining bodies spread from foreground to background.

Fig. 11.8


Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, c. 1480–1534), after Raphael (Italian, 1483–1520). The Judgement of Paris, c. 1510–20. Engraving on paper; 29.1 × 43.7 cm (11 7/16 × 17 3/16 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 19.74.1.

The type instantiated by Cezanne’s seated figure arguably draws as well on a figure in one of his own earlier paintings, the seated figure in The Temptation of Saint Anthony (fig. 11.9).[15] This turbulent, nightmarish painting derives loosely from an episode in Gustave Flaubert’s dramatic novel of the same name: Satan tempts the early Christian hermit during his withdrawal to the desert with a number of visions, including one in which the legendary Queen of Sheba makes seductive advances toward him.[16] The female figure at the left of the painting who performs this role is clearly the prototype of the figure (in pink) second from the right in The Bathers seen from the back with her left arm raised above her head, and perhaps also the related figure (in maroon) with both arms raised above her head.[17] Both also derive more distantly from the same stock antique figure, the Venus Anadyomene (fig. 11.10).[18] By way of confirmation, the standing figures on the left side of Bathers of 1874–75 (fig. 11.11) echo the attitudes exhibited by the Venus when seen from the front and back (although Cezanne’s are reversed mirror images).8

Figs. 11.9–11.11

Csm Cezanne Tentation e1089dc1c4 3

Fig. 11.9


Paul Cezanne. The Temptation of Saint Anthony, c. 1870 (FWN 611). Oil on canvas; 57 × 76 cm (22 3/8 × 29 7/8 in.). Emil Bührle Collection, on long-term loan at Kunsthaus Zurich.

At the top, an adult human figure with wavy hair raises both arms, the right hand lifting the hair and the left hand holding a lock near the side of the head. The upper body is bare with visible breasts and a soft abdomen, facing forward. From the waist down, a draped cloth wraps around the hips and legs with a large knot at the front, and the figure stands on a low rectangular base. The statue is white, set against a light gray background.

Fig. 11.10


Venus Anadyomene, date unknown. Plaster; 151 × 46 × 48 cm (59 7/16 × 18 1/8 × 18 7/8 in.). Musée du Louvre, Paris, Gy 0599.

Top area shows a pale blue sky with white clouds and green trees; a narrow light-tan path runs horizontally behind a blue river in the middle. Across the foreground green bank and into the water are six nude adults with light to medium skin tones, most with dark hair: from left, one reclines on the grass, another stands beside a hanging white cloth with an arm raised, near center a seated figure faces the water and another stands with arms lifted, and to the right one wades reaching toward the surface while another bends at the edge near a tall tree. The figures are human-sized relative to the bank, while the trees rise much taller, framing the scene on both sides.

Fig. 11.11


Paul Cezanne. Bathers, 1874–75 (FWN 916). Oil on canvas; 38.1 × 46 cm (15 × 18 1/8 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of Joan Whitney Payson 1975, 1976.201.12.

Arcadia 

This set of relationships is significant because it implies that Cezanne’s Bathers evolved out of paintings on the theme of eroticism, a subject that preoccupied and greatly troubled the younger Cezanne. The development of the figures in the painting is also linked to the classical topoi of the Golden Age and Arcadia, which were notionally the era and location of a lost idyllic past when humanity was still innocent.9

The setting of The Bathers is nevertheless generic, since Cezanne was unable to realize his “dream” of posing “naked models in the open air,” because women “intimidated” him, according to his first gallerist, Ambroise Vollard (and for reasons of propriety).[19] The scene does relate loosely, however, to the locale of his Bathers at Rest (1876–77; FWN 926), which represents the Mont Sainte-Victoire in the background, and to that of the watercolor Bathers Under a Bridge (1900–1906; FWN 3018-11b), which pictures the bridge at Les Trois Sautets on the banks of the river Arc that ran through Aix.[20] The Bathers is consequently redolent of Arcadia inasmuch as Provence—whose name indicates that it was the first transalpine Roman province—featured in contemporary literature as a kind of Arcadia, notably in the poem Mirèio, written in Occitan (or Provençal) by Frédéric Mistral in 1859.[21] It also appeared under the guise of the stony Sicilian Arcadia described by Theocritus in Prosper Grésy’s Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Hamlet of Bonfillons from the 1840s (fig. 11.12).[22] This painting even includes a group of three female bathers nestling out of sight at the edges of a shady pool, in poses with close relatives in The Bathers. So, too, Cezanne’s school friend Émile Zola characterized Provence in terms of the Arcadia first described by the Greek poet Hesiod in a letter of June 1858 to the young painter.[23] And when Cezanne replied to Zola, he styled himself as the forlorn Arcadian shepherd Tityrus from the first Eclogue of the Latin poet Virgil.[24]10

At the top, a pale blue sky with white clouds stretches over a long ridge of tan and gray mountains, tallest toward the right. Below the ridge, a wide valley runs left to right with scattered light-colored buildings and a narrow path. In the foreground, dark green trees and shrubs cluster around a calm pond, with brown rocks and grasses along the edge. Near the lower left and center, several small figures in red and white clothing rest by the water and move along the path with an animal, much smaller than the surrounding landscape.

Fig. 11.12


Prosper Joseph Grésy (French, 1804–1874). The Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Hamlet of Bonfillons, c. 1840. Oil on panel; 11 × 46 cm (18 1/8 × 43 11/16 in.). Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence, France. Photo: Album / Universal Images Group / Christophel Fine Art.

Cezanne’s Virgilian enthusiasm received a renewed impetus in 1896 when he met Joachim Gasquet, and the pair walked the landscape around the Mont Sainte-Victoire during the summer of 1897.[25] In his poem L’Enfant of 1900, a loose adaptation of Eclogue IV in service of Provençal nationalism, Gasquet added a preface containing the following conceit: “Under the pines of Le Tholonet, among the red rocks that the old master Paul Cézanne loves to paint and which cap the most beautiful land in the world, I found inside a book of VIRGIL soaked in sunlight, these sheets held together between the pages of the divine Eclogue to Pollio.”[26]  11

Gasquet introduced Cezanne to a number of his poet colleagues, including Emmanuel Signoret (who named Cezanne as one of the prides of Aix in an article of 1896 in Gasquet’s journal, Les mois dorés), Saint-Georges de Bouhélier, Marc Lafargue (who gave a copy of his L’age d’or of 1903 to Cezanne), and Jean Royère (whom Cezanne thanked for sending him a copy of his Eurythmies of 1904).[27] Cezanne also formed a friendship in 1902 with Léo Larguier, another admirer of Virgil who dedicated poems to the painter and used him as the model for one of his characters.[28] Many of the poems written by these new acquaintances described an imaginary Arcadian past populated by satyrs and nymphs living in such close harmony with the natural landscape that they form part of it. And art historian Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer has drawn parallels between Cezanne’s treatment of his bathers and the beings described by Gasquet and Bouhélier in particular, noting that these were “archetypes” like the artist’s “faceless, sexless, bathers.”[29]12

Arcadia, however, was also the site of sexual desire and, sometimes, sexual violence. Meyer Schapiro has described the fantasies the Latin poets inspired in Cezanne of shepherds who could gaze upon goddesses, and other “erotic” myths.[30] And in Cezanne’s Rape (fig. 11.13), the Hades of Ovid’s Metamorphoses abducts Persephone under the eyes of naked nymphs in the background while the Mont Sainte-Victoire looms in the distance.[31] Sexual violence is more explicit in Satyrs and Nymphs (fig. 11.14), whose theme is similar to that of the play written by Théodore Aubanel in the 1860s, Le pâtre (Lou pastre), in which a Provençal satyr repeatedly spies on naked female bathers and eventually rapes one of them.[32] And Athanassoglou-Kallmyer has shown that Bathing from about 1875–77 (fig. 11.15) has troubling overtones in representing a group of men spying on two women.[33]13

Figs. 11.13–11.15

At the top, a dark blue sky is bordered by dense green trees, with a low blue-gray mountain on the horizon. In the foreground center-right, a large adult with medium-light skin and reddish hair stands with back toward the viewer, facing left, holding a limp adult with light skin and long dark hair across both arms; these are the largest figures. In the mid-ground left, two smaller adults with light skin sit or recline near blue‑green water, surrounded by dark green foliage and patches of brown‑green ground.

Fig. 11.13


Paul Cezanne. The Rape, 1867 (FWN 590). Oil on canvas; 90.5 × 117 cm (35 5/8 × 46 1/16 in.). The Provost and Fellows of King’s College, Cambridge University (Keynes Collection), on loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England.

From left to right, three nude adults with light to medium skin tones are set against a dark background, with a dark green area along the bottom. At left, an adult with long hair bends forward and reaches toward the center, touching the taller central adult’s torso and an off‑white drape that hangs to the ground. At right, another adult with long hair kneels with one arm raised to the head; figures are rendered in warm tan and orange tones with the drape in pale white.

Fig. 11.14


Paul Cezanne. Satyrs and Nymphs, c. 1867 (FWN 592). Oil on canvas; 23 × 30 cm (9 1/16 × 11 13/16 in.). Sotheby’s, New York.

Left side shows three nude adults with light skin near a dark brown tree: one standing with arms raised, one reaching toward the trunk, and one seated with knees bent. Center is filled with dense green foliage, and the ground slopes to blue-green water on the right. In the right middle distance, two smaller nude adults with light skin are at the water’s edge beside pale rocks. Colors are mainly green and blue with beige bodies, and the foreground figures are larger than those farther back.

Fig. 11.15


Paul Cezanne. Bathing, c. 1875–77 (FWN 908). Oil on canvas; 19 × 27 cm (7 1/2 × 10 5/8 in.). Private collection, New York.

Paintings like the last are nonetheless rare by this date, Cezanne having progressively separated male from female bathers beginning in the early 1870s.[34] Correspondingly, the eroticism of these works is less overt and even “sublimated.”[35] Or so it would seem. Some art historians versed in psychoanalysis have argued, to the contrary, that the sexual charge of Cezanne’s earlier compositions is not in fact defused or dissipated in the Bathers so much as displaced from their subject matter and carried instead by their formal and technical characteristics.[36] And Aruna D’Souza argues that the “primordial stuff of paint” in the Chicago painting, and its “multiple and open-ended marks of deepest blue pigment,” express a frustrated “sensuality.”[37] There is some evidence to support this conclusion, insofar as Cezanne described his own (although probably early) work as “spunky [couillarde] painting” to Vollard.[38] His comment probably derives from a reading of Stendhal’s Histoire de la peinture en Italie of 1817.[39] This states that “the stimulating effects of bile coincide with those of seminal fluid” to produce “violent sensations” in the painter of a “bilious temperament.”[40]14

Ambiguity

A more nuanced picture of Cezanne’s treatment of sexuality in The Bathers emerges from considering its relationship to a story he greatly admired, Manette Salomon of 1867 by Edmond and Jules de Goncourt. Cezanne wrote to his son on August 3, 1906: “Long live the Goncourts … and all those who have leanings toward color.”[41] He also used the same phrase (“a personal way of seeing”) as the novel’s protagonist, Naz de Coriolis, to describe the unique form of vision to which he aspired.[42] In the novel, Coriolis’s Creole blood confers on him “an intimate affinity with the feminine temperament.”[43] And his love of color betokens a similar affinity, since it was considered feminine in academic theory.[44] Cezanne’s identification with Coriolis suggests, therefore, that his use of paint in The Bathers was not the straightforward efflux of an uncomplicated masculinity but that its gendering was altogether more multivalent.15

In this respect, his paintwork is appropriate to the bodies of the figures in The Bathers, which exhibit fewer conventional “signs of difference” than painted bathers normally do.[45] One explanation for this absence is the fact that Cezanne largely refrained from painting directly from the female model in later life. What is more, Cezanne said with admiration of one rare “exception” to this rule, “Look, she’s beautiful? She’s like a man!”[46]16

It has been suggested that Cezanne’s bathers have ancestors in the original humans described by Aristophanes in Plato’s Symposium, namely the androgynes known as the “spherical people.”[47] It is more clearly significant in this context that the prone bather in the Chicago painting (in light blue in the schematic) is based on a sculpture of a Sleeping Hermaphrodite in the Louvre, which Cezanne sketched.[48] And arguably, the closest precedent for the figure (in maroon) with raised arms and a raised knee standing against a tree is another antique hermaphrodite in the Louvre, the Genius of Eternal Rest (fig. 11.16), which Cezanne also drew; and whose pose Manette adopted when she first modeled for Coriolis.[49]17

Top to bottom: a full-length off-white human figure stands front-facing, arms lifted with wrists crossed above the head, hands holding a small cluster of rounded forms; long curled hair falls along the sides of the head and neck. The body is nude with a lean chest and abdomen. Lower down, the legs are crossed with weight on the right leg, and the feet rest on a small rectangular block atop a larger gray pedestal with two labels. The background is plain light to medium gray.

Fig. 11.16


Genius of Eternal Rest, c. 200–300 CE. Marble; 185 × 46 × 44 cm (72 13/16 × 18 1/8 × 17 5/16 in.). Musée du Louvre, Paris, MR 207.

It seems likely, therefore, that Cezanne contrived the ambiguity of The Bathers with respect to gender quite deliberately, which suggests that this aspect of the human body was less important to him than the fact of its corporeality.[50] For Cezanne, corporeality was a property of things as well as people, even describing a tree trunk as “a body” in conversation with Jules Borély in 1902.[51] Arguably, then, the sheer corporeality of the bodies in The Bathers is more basic than their human identity, and is on a par with the bodiliness of the landscape they inhabit.18

Technique 

The calligraphic contours present on the surface of Chicago’s Bathers also have a more straightforward explanation. This is that they are used here, as in the majority of Cezanne’s paintings of the period, as an expedient with which to hold forms together before modeling them with color—although he often had to restate them when this process did not succeed.[52] In The Bathers almost the opposite is true. Take the figure fifth from the left (in purple on the schematic) standing in the water facing right (see fig. 11.2): Cezanne began by sketching the outlines in dilute pale-blue paint, as can be seen in the head and the lower (proper) right arm (see Technical Summary in the Technical Report). He then added more contours of this kind over areas of color, notably in the shoulder. Still later contours are applied in a more saturated blue around the top of the right arm and in an even darker blue, using thicker paint, at the edges of the front leg. The contours in The Bathers thus correspond to every stage of the painting process. Similar repeated contours, applied over one another in different shades of blue, can be seen in the watercolor mentioned above (see fig. 11.3), suggesting there may have been some interchange of technique between the two works. 19

Cezanne’s multiple contours have several theoretical sources.[53] One is the theory of vision held by the painter Frenhofer in Honoré de Balzac’s novella Le chef d’œuvre inconnu of 1831, with whom Cezanne closely identified.[54] Frenhofer maintained that representing the figure with indeterminate contours was integral to his ambition to give the body “movement and life.”[55] Similarly, Matthew Simms describes how multiple contours traced in pencil and with the brush in related watercolors lend these works “vibrating edges” that express “the actual movement of living forms in space.”[56] This is true of the Bathers of 1900–1906 (FWN 2042), which represents many of the same figures as the Chicago painting. The striding figure at the left of this work, for example, combines initial pencil lines with light-grayish strokes drawn in watercolor, and superimposes over these a series of increasingly darker and more saturated blue watercolor contours. It is probable, therefore, that Cezanne borrowed his unusual handling of contour in The Bathers from watercolors like this.[57] This would also explain why The Bathers is so unusually transparent, as the watercolor medium does not allow the artist to hide one layer beneath another. 20

Color is also important in The Bathers. Although the painting does not have the rich and tightly woven harmony of more finished works, such as The Vase of Tulips (see cat. 8), the coloring of some figures is still complex. Notably, a wide range of mixed colors—running from a cool blue through more neutral grays and purples into beige and a pinkish red—can be found in the reclining figure (in black on the schematic) (fig. 11.17) alongside tiny touches of green from the surrounding verdure. It is worth noting, too, that a similar range of colors can be found in much earlier works—for example, in the reclining nymph in the background of The Rape (fig. 11.18), whose pose comes close to that of the corresponding figure in The Bathers. 21

Fig. 11.17


Detail of reclining figure in Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

Top section is dark blue-green. From left to right, a nude adult figure with light, peach-toned skin and yellow-brown hair reclines on a dark green surface, legs extended toward the lower right. Near the right edge, a second nude adult with similar skin tone is partially visible, leaning forward beside a pale blue shape; this figure is positioned slightly higher and closer to the right border. The background is consistently dark blue-green, and both figures occupy the foreground close together.

Fig. 11.18


Detail of nymph in background of Cezanne’s The Rape (1867). The Provost and Fellows of King’s College, Cambridge University (Keynes Collection), on loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England.


Paul Smith
22

Technical Summary

Cezanne painted The Bathers on a pre-primed no. 12 portrait (figure) standard-size canvas. He began by mapping out the composition using linear strokes of dilute ultramarine blue paint to indicate the placement of the figures and the tree branches; he then applied broad washes of blue and yellowish-green paint, which remain visible on the surface through the open brushwork. Next, Cezanne built up the landscape and the flesh of the figures, adding blue contour strokes as he worked back and forth across the composition. In areas of the foliage and the sky, he applied the paint in patches of color using short, parallel strokes. Though localized passages were built up with layered and overlapping strokes of opaque paint, the work is characterized by an overall lightness and openness stemming from Cezanne’s use of thin and transparent paint applications and his loose brushwork, which leaves the white ground exposed throughout the composition.23

Layered Image Viewer

11 0006 Background
Natural light
11 0001 X ray
X-ray
11 0003 Reflected Infrared (0.9–1.05 µm)
Reflected infrared (0.9–1.05µm)
11 0002 Transmitted Infrared (0.9–1.05 µm)
Transmitted infrared (0.9–1.05µm)
11 0005 Ultraviolet
Ultraviolet-induced luminescence
11 0004 Raking Light
Raking light
11 0000 Natural Light annos
Natural light

Fig. 11.19

Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457. Interactive image. Use the icons at lower right and the slide bar to compare conservation images and overlays.

Signature

Signature/stamp: Not signed or dated.24

Structure and Technique

Support

Canvas: Linen (estimated).[58]25

Standard format: The painting corresponds closely to a no. 12 portrait (figure) standard size (60 × 50 cm).[59]26

Weave: Plain weave. Average thread count (standard deviation): 31.5V (0.9) × 35.1H (0.7) threads/cm. The horizontal threads were determined to correspond to the warp and the vertical threads to the weft.[60]27

Canvas characteristics: There is strong, widely spaced (primary) cusping on the bottom edge and minor (secondary) cusping on the other edges. The bottom tacking edge is unprimed, and narrow regions of bare canvas are visible along the outer edge of the left tacking margin. These observations indicate that the canvas was cut from an edge, or close to a corner, of a larger piece of primed fabric (see Ground Application). The canvas is very fine, with a few thicker threads and nubs.28

Stretching: Current stretching: Dates to the 1968 lining. Copper tacks spaced 5–8 cm apart (see Conservation History).29

Original stretching: There are a number of closely spaced holes on the tacking edges from previous tacking campaigns, and a series of smaller pinholes close to the edges of the painting. 30

Stretcher/strainer: Current stretcher: Dates to the 1968 lining. ICA redwood spring stretcher. The stretcher dimensions are slightly larger than the original ones, incorporating a portion of the tacking edges onto the picture plane (see Conservation History).31

Original stretcher: The previous stretcher may have been the original stretcher (see Conservation History). It was documented as a seven-membered wooden stretcher with two vertical crossbars and one horizontal.[61]32

Manufacturer’s/supplier’s marks: None observed in current examination or documented in previous examinations.33

Preparatory Layers

Sizing: Not determined (probably glue).34

Ground application/texture: The canvas was cut from a larger piece of commercially primed fabric: the ground extends to the cut edges of the fabric on the top and right; some raw canvas is visible in places at the extreme left edge, and the bottom edge is unprimed. The lower limit of the ground application is uneven. The ground layer is quite abraded with numerous tiny losses throughout, which appear to have been present before Cezanne started painting (fig. 11.20). This suggests that Cezanne may have used an old or poor-quality piece of primed canvas.[62]35

At the top left, a white scale bar reads “5.0 mm.” From top center to mid-right, a diagonal dark blue streak crosses a field of small white and gray dots with scattered black specks. The lower right has a peach-tan area marked by a curved blue band and nearby patches of blue, while the lower left shows gray and beige swirls. The dotted pattern spans most regions, with the blue areas medium to large compared to the tiny specks.

Fig. 11.20


Photomicrograph of Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904) showing an area of exposed ground with small losses that occurred before Cezanne started the painting. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

Color: Off-white.36

Materials/composition: Analysis indicates that the ground contains primarily lead white with traces of calcium sulfate and aluminum compound(s).[63] Binder: Oil (estimated) (fig. 11.21). 37

Top edge shows a thin blue band with darker blue speckles and a few tiny red dots. Beneath it, a thicker light gray-white layer runs horizontally, with an uneven surface and a few faint round pits; the lower edge fades into a dark background. The fragment is elongated left-to-right with irregular ends and appears only a few tens of micrometers tall; a scale bar at the lower right reads 50 µm.

Fig. 11.21


Photomicrograph of a cross section from Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904) showing the ground and blue paint layers. Original magnification: 200×. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

Compositional Planning/Underdrawing/Painted Sketch

Extent/character: No dry medium underdrawing was observed with infrared reflectography or microscopic examination of the painting surface, but Cezanne employed painted underdrawing to loosely sketch in the figures and the tree branches. In the figures especially, portions of these lines remain visible on the surface.38

Medium/technique: Dilute ultramarine blue paint applied by brush. Where this painted underdrawing is exposed on the surface (fig. 11.22), it appears to have beaded up and contracted on the surface before it dried.
39

At the top, teal and green color areas run horizontally, meeting a central light beige region with a fine square grid texture. From left to center, curved shapes in blue, navy, and peach overlap and angle toward the middle. On the right, smaller patches of pale tan and blue sit near the edge, and at the bottom dark blue arcs form a band. Elements vary in scale from small speckled areas to broad color swaths.

Fig. 11.22


Detail of Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904) showing strokes of dilute blue paint used to map out the composition. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

Revisions: Cezanne used the painted underdrawing as a rough guide to the placement of the figures and some of the tree branches.40

Paint Layer

Application/technique and artist’s revision: Cezanne roughly sketched in the composition using fluid, linear strokes of ultramarine blue paint and dilute washes of ultramarine and cobalt blues (see Compositional Planning above). In the infrared false-color image (fig. 11.23), blue areas containing ultramarine blue appear a deep red, while those rich in cobalt blue show a more distinctly pink hue. Intermediate hues suggest the coexistence of the two pigments. The places where cobalt blue was used can also be seen in the macro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (MA-XRF) cobalt map (fig. 11.24). Cezanne also used yellowish-green paint in broad passages throughout the landscape. These washes are visible on the surface in regions of the sky and the foliage and near the lower left and right corners; at the lower right edge, the blue wash appears to have flowed slightly off the edge of the canvas, as if the painting had been on its side or laid flat. Cezanne began painting the landscape around the blue outlines of the figures, then worked up the flesh tones adding more ultramarine blue lines near the contours as he worked back and forth between the figures and the landscape. The bright-yellow spot in the upper left quadrant was applied directly on top of the ground, slightly overlapping dilute paint from the foliage lay-in stage; the green foliage, most of which is composed of mixtures of emerald green,[64] viridian, and ochres, was then brought up around it. In the green areas, the distribution of emerald green can be seen in the MA-XRF copper and arsenic maps, that of viridian in the MA-XRF chrome map, while the ochres are indicated in the MA-XRF iron maps (see fig. 11.24). Additionally, in the infrared false-color image, green areas of foliage containing viridian appear dark red, while those containing emerald green appear blue. For the most part, Cezanne used opaque, paste-consistency paint, though some passages of green and blue are more thinned and semitransparent, allowing the ground to show through. He applied the paint in discrete patches of color that often overlap one another, but he also left gaps in the brushwork throughout the painting where the off-white ground layer is exposed, particularly among the figures and at the interface of sky and foliage in the upper left quadrant (fig. 11.25).41

Figs. 11.23–11.25

Top half shows broad areas of pink and purple with darker patches and a dark, branching shape angling in from the right. Along the lower left, a group of nude adult human figures in light green with pink outlines are clustered, with some reclining and others bending. Along the lower right, another group of similarly colored figures stand or lean near a thick diagonal form, with an open pink‑purple space separating the two groups.

Fig. 11.23


Infrared false-color image of Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904). The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

A grid of twelve equal square panels arranged in two rows of six, each in black, white, and gray. From top-left to top-right, panels show mottled and swirling patterns; some squares are mostly dark, while others have brighter patches concentrated toward the center or upper areas. The bottom row continues left-to-right with similar grayscale textures, with a few panels nearly black and others showing lighter areas and scattered speckles; no clear figures or objects are discernible. All panels touch edge-to-edge and appear similar in scale.

Fig. 11.24


MA-XRF maps of Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904) showing the distribution of chemical elements present in the painting. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457. From top-left: arsenic (As_K), calcium (Ca_K), cobalt (Co_K), chrome (Cr_K), copper (Cu_K), iron (Fe_K), mercury (Hg_L), potassium (K_K), manganese (Mn_K), nickel (Ni_K), lead (Pb_L), lead (Pb_M), tin (Sn_L) and titanium (Ti_K).

Top section contains deep blue and dark green patches with lighter blue and gray areas, and a small bright yellow spot near the left-center. Across the middle from left to right, broad bands of light blue mix with medium to dark green shapes, with a few thin dark lines interspersed. The lower area has pale blue and light green sections, plus small curved blue marks on the right, with colors overlapping and irregular edges throughout.

Fig. 11.25


Detail of Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904) showing Cezanne’s brushwork. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

Throughout the landscape and sky, Cezanne used short parallel or zigzag strokes. The brushstrokes occasionally mixed wet-in-wet with adjacent patches of color and sometimes contain unmixed colors picked up from the palette, creating subtle variations within each color patch. The flesh tones were built up with discrete touches of pink, peach, orange, and purplish gray, often applied wet-on-wet where brushstrokes overlap but without mixing or blending the strokes on the canvas (fig. 11.26). The skin tones of the human figures are mostly composed of dilute vermillion, cobalt blue, iron oxides, and emerald green, as highlighted in the MA-XRF mercury, cobalt, iron, copper, and arsenic maps, respectively (see fig. 11.24). Occasional touches of bright cobalt blue and emerald green, similar to those used throughout the sky and the landscape, were layered between and on top of the flesh tones and the ultramarine blue contour strokes. The loose brushwork of the overlapping figures and the repeated contour lines from different painting stages make it challenging to separate one figure from another and to understand their position in relation to one another and their setting. To the left and just above the figure that leans against the tree trunk on the right side, pink brushstrokes peek through the landscape that are similar to the flesh tones of the figures, suggesting that another figure may have been planned for that area, or possibly that one of the existing figures was posed differently (fig. 11.27). Final touches to the painting include ultramarine blue lines added near the contours of the figures; linear strokes that reinforce the tree branches; and cursive blue strokes applied to the central area of the sky (fig. 11.28) and the water, which seem to evoke foliage and ripples in the water, respectively. 
42

Figs. 11.26–11.28

Top area shows light blue and cream patches with soft, curved shapes. On the left, a large peach region is crossed by dark blue arcs; the center mixes peach, pale blue, and a small purple spot in curved forms, while the right side has green and blue patches edged with dark blue. Larger patches of peach and blue dominate from top to bottom, with smaller touches of cream, green, and purple.

Fig. 11.26


Detail of Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904) showing the discrete patches of color used to build the flesh tones. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

Top edge has mottled blue with small bits of white and a light green area. Large areas of medium and dark blue fill the center, with faint teal and small orange flecks; on the right, a vertical green patch sits next to a dark navy curve bordering a peach‑beige section. Bottom-left shifts to gray-blue with scattered white specks.

Fig. 11.27


Detail of Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904) showing some pink paint beneath the surface that may be related to a figure. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

Top area shows a broad light-blue field with smaller dark-blue and green patches, most concentrated at the upper left and upper right. Across the middle, a large light-blue space contains scattered medium-blue curved lines and a cluster of darker green shapes along the right side. The bottom portion has a wide band of mixed greens with some medium-blue sections and small white specks; no people or identifiable objects are visible.

Fig. 11.28


Detail of Cezanne’s The Bathers (1899–1904) showing final cursive blue strokes added in the sky. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.457.

Painting tools: Brushes, including flat ferrule and fine, pointed brushes for the linear blue contour strokes.43

Palette: Analysis indicates the presence of the following pigments: lead white, ultramarine blue, cobalt blue, emerald green,[65] viridian, yellow ochre, iron oxide red, vermillion, and possibly an organic yellow.[66]44

Binding media: Oil (estimated).[67]45

Surface Finish

Varnish layer/media: The painting is currently unvarnished (see Conservation History).46

Conservation History

The painting was lined with an aqueous adhesive in an undocumented treatment.[68]47

In 1968 Alfred Jakstas removed a discolored surface coating. He faced the painting and removed the old lining fabric and adhesive. He relined the canvas with a wax-resin adhesive and stretched it on a new ICA redwood spring stretcher. The painting was varnished with polyvinyl acetate (PVA) AYAA. Minor inpainting was carried out, then a layer of methacrylate resin L-46 and a final layer of PVA AYAA were applied.[69] Calcium, manganese, and titanium, as observed in the MA-XRF maps (see fig. 11.24), are likely related to inpainting campaigns.48

In 2021 Allison Langley removed the synthetic varnish layers and scattered retouching, and left the paint surface unvarnished. Old, tiny losses concentrated near the left and right edges above the figures were filled and inpainted.[70]49

Condition Summary

The painting is in good condition overall but has suffered wear and tear from handling and the effects of early conservation treatments. The canvas is wax-resin lined and is stretched taut and free of distortions on an ICA spring stretcher. The stretcher is slightly larger than the original one, and portions of the tacking edges now show around the perimeter. Tiny losses and abrasion of the ground layer appear to have occurred before the painting was begun. The original tacking edges are worn but secure. Localized heat blisters in the paint, likely related to the early lining treatment, are visible in raking light in a few areas: the dark-green foliage above the lunging figure on the left; the light-blue sky near the center; and the foliage near the upper right corner. Thicker brushstrokes show subtle flattening and moating from the lining. There are a number of tiny paint losses; some of these appear to be more like gouges or short scratches made when the paint was still soft, possibly from handling or storage in Cezanne’s studio. There are localized fills and retouching associated with these small losses. One earlier retouching campaign used a generic orangey-brown fill material, often in conjunction with blue retouching, both within the composition and in some of the old pinholes around the perimeter. Cracking is minimal, visible only under magnification in localized areas. Some dark-red brushstrokes between the left edge and the calf of the lunging figure appear to be accidental accretions.

Kim Muir with Giovanni Veri
50

Ambroise Vollard (1866–1939), Paris.51

Jacques Zoubaloff (1876–1941), Paris;52

His sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 16–17, 1927, lot 113 (ill.). 53

Jos. Hessel (1859–1942), Paris.[71]54

Paul Rosenberg and Co., Paris and New York, 1928.[72]55

Chester H. Johnson Gallery, Chicago.[73]56

Amy Irwin McCormick (Mrs. Robert R. McCormick; 1872–1939), Chicago, by 1929;[74]57

By descent to her husband, Colonel Robert R. McCormick (1880–1955), Chicago;58

Given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1942.59

New York, Paul Rosenberg and Co. at Wildenstein Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Paul Cezanne, 1839–1906, Jan. 1928, cat. 8, as Les baigneurs.60

Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, Exhibition of Modern French Paintings, Jan. 22–Feb. 2, 1929, no cat.61

New York, Museum of Modern Art, Summer Exhibition: Retrospective, June–Sept. 1930, cat. 15, as Bathers.62

Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–Nov. 1, 1933, cat. 306, as c. 1890.63

Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, June 1–Nov. 1, 1934, cat. 291, as c. 1890.64

Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Robert R. McCormick, Apr. 17–June 2, 1940, no cat.65

Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpiece of the Month, Dec. 1943, no cat.66

Cincinnati Art Museum, Paintings by Paul Cézanne, Feb. 5–Mar. 9, 1947, cat. 12 (ill.), as Bathers (Baigneuses), 1900–1905.67

Oberlin, OH, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, unknown exhibition, May 10–30, 1950, no cat.68

Art Institute of Chicago, Cézanne: Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings; A Loan Exhibition, Feb. 7–Mar. 16, 1952, cat. 98 (ill.), as Bathers, 1900–1905; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Apr. 4–May 18, 1952.69

Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, An Exhibition of Paintings by Cézanne, Aug. 20–Sept. 18, 1954, cat. 60 (ill.), as Baigneuses, c. 1900; London, Tate Gallery, Sept. 29–Oct. 27, 1954.70

Cleveland Museum of Art, Venetian Tradition, Nov. 1956–Jan. 1957, no cat.71

San Francisco Museum of Art, Man: Glory, Jest and Riddle; A Survey of the Human Form Through the Ages, Nov. 10, 1964–Jan. 3, 1965, cat. 238 (ill.), as The Bathers (Les Baigneuses), 1900–1905.72

Washington, DC, Phillips Collection, Cézanne: An Exhibition to Honor the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Phillips Collection, Feb. 27–Mar. 28, 1971, cat. 29 (ill.), as Bathers; Art Institute of Chicago, Apr. 17–May 16, 1971; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, June 1–July 3, 1971. 73

New York, Museum of Modern Art, Cézanne: The Late Work, Oct. 7, 1977–Jan. 3, 1978, cat. 38 (color ill.), as Bathers (Baigneuses); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Jan. 25–Mar. 19, 1977; Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, as Cézanne: Les dernières années (1895–1906), Apr. 20–July 23, 1978, cat. 100 (ill.).  74

Liège, Belgium, Musée Saint Georges, Cézanne, Mar. 12–May 9, 1982, cat. 28 (ill.), as Les Baigneuses, 1900–05; Aix-en-Provence, France, Musée Granet, June 12–Aug. 31, 1982.75

Tokyo, Seibu Museum of Art, The Impressionist Tradition: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 18–Dec. 17, 1985, cat. 52 (color ill.); Fukuoka, Japan, Fukuoka Art Museum, Jan. 5–Feb. 2, 1986; Kyoto, Japan, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Mar. 4–Apr. 13, 1986.76

Basel, Switzerland, Kunstmuseum Basel, Paul Cézanne: Die Badenden, Sept. 10–Dec. 10, 1989, cat. 68 (color ill.), as Baigneuses, 1900–1904.77

Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Cézanne, Sept. 25, 1995–Jan. 7, 1996, cat. 220 (color ill.), as Baigneuses; London, Tate Gallery, Feb. 8–Apr. 28, 1996, cat. 220 (color ill.), as Bathers; Philadelphia Museum of Art, May 30–Sept. 1, 1996.78

Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Cézanne in Provence, Jan. 29–May 7, 2006, cat. 126 (color ill.), as Bathers; Aix-en-Provence, France, Musée Granet, June 9–Sept. 7, 2006.79

Fort Worth, Kimbell Museum of Art, The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago, June 29–Nov. 2, 2008, cat. 68 (color ill.).80

Budapest, Szépművészeti Múzeum, Cézanne and the Past: Tradition and Creativity, Oct. 25, 2012–Feb. 17, 2013, cat. 145 (color ill.), as Bathers.81

Art Institute of Chicago, Cezanne, May 15–Sept. 5, 2022, cat. 107 (color ill.); London, Tate Modern, Oct. 5, 2022–Mar. 12, 2023.82

Aix-en-Provence, France, Musée Granet, Cezanne au Jas de Bouffan, June 28–Oct. 12, 2025, cat. 104 (color ill.), as Baigneuses et baigneurs.
83

Theodore Reff, “Cézanne’s Late Bather Paintings,” Arts Magazine 52 (Oct. 1977): 118, fig. 9. 84

Mary Louise Krumrine, Paul Cézanne: The Bathers (Thames and Hudson, 1990), 208, 210, 227, 252, 266n16, 315, fig. 193.85

Françoise Cachin et al., Cézanne, exh. cat. (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1996), 497, 502, 503, 505, cat. 220, fig. 220.86

Giulia Ballas, Cézanne: Baigneuses et baigneurs; Thème et composition (Biro, 2002), 81–82, 86, 90, 92–93, 107, 112, 117, 140, 278, no. 25 (ill.); figs. 13-3d, 13-4b, 13-8b, 15e, 16–18, 20-1, 20-2, 21-1, 21-2, 22-1, 23-1, 23-2, 26-2.87

Philip Conisbee, “The Atelier des Lauves,” in Cézanne in Provence, ed. Philip Conisbee and Denis Coutagne, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Art; Yale University Press, 2006), 239.88

Aruna D’Souza, Cézanne’s Bathers: Biography and the Erotics of Paint (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008), 58–59.89

Achim Borchardt-Hume et al., ed., Cezanne, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2022), 174 (color ill.), cat. 107.90

Walter Feilchenfeldt, Jayne Warman, and David Nash, eds., The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné, accessed June 1, 2025, https://www.cezannecatalogue.com, no. 976 (color ill.).
91

Undated

Label:
Location: backing board
Method: printed label with typewritten script
Content: THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO / artist / Cezanne / title / “Bathers” / medium oil on canvas / 42.457 / credit / acc. # (fig. 11.29)
92

A rectangular white museum label on a light gray wall shows small black text. From top to bottom, it reads “THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO”; a left column lists “artist,” “title,” “medium,” “credit,” and “acc. #,” with corresponding details to the right. The artist’s name is present but not repeated here; the title is “Bathers,” the medium is “oil on canvas,” and the accession number is 42.457.

Fig. 11.29


Label, cat. 11.

Inscription:
Location: top and bottom tacking edges
Method: handwritten script
Content: [?] 61 1/2[?] [?] [dimensions?] 
(figs. 11.30–11.31)
93

At the top, a dark gray band runs horizontally across the frame. Below it, a narrow medium‑gray strip extends left to right with mottled patches, faint round spots, and short dark marks; this strip is thin compared to the areas above and below. The lower portion is a broad light‑gray field with a slightly uneven, sloping edge where it meets the strip.

Fig. 11.30


Inscription, cat. 11.

Top section shows a wide red-brown band with a fine, even texture. Below it, a thinner tan-brown strip runs horizontally, marked with irregular dark brown and reddish spots and small dents. At the far right near the top edge, a small circular orange piece is partially visible. The background is a smooth gray-brown area.

Fig. 11.31


Inscription, cat. 11.

Number:
Location: stretcher
Method: handwritten script
Content: 42.457 
(fig. 11.32)
94

At the top is a narrow light tan strip, with a wide gray textured band directly beneath running left to right. Below and left, reddish-brown strips form an inside corner; on the upper horizontal strip, white numbers “42.457” are written, with a small round hole near the center of the number and a few tiny holes nearby. At the lower right, a silver-colored ridged cylindrical piece sits horizontally within a rectangular recess, bordered by reddish-brown and gray areas.

Fig. 11.32


Number, cat. 11.

Number:
Location: frame
Method: handwritten script
Content: 1942.457 
(fig. 11.33)
95

Top edge shows a narrow dark gray strip; beneath it is a wide beige painted surface with the numbers “1942.457” written in dark blue near the upper center. Across this surface are several small round holes and a larger circular patch near the middle-left, with scattered scuffs and darker brown spots; the numbers are larger than the holes and marks. At the bottom, a light tan rectangular bar runs horizontally, partially visible against a pale background.

Fig. 11.33


Number, cat. 11.

Pre-1980

Label: 
Location: previous stretcher (discarded); label preserved in Conservation object file
Method: printed label with handwritten script
Content: Johnson [penciled in] / no. [penciled in:] 7187 / W. S. Budworth & Son / PACKERS & SHIPPERS / 424 WEST 52nd ST., NEW YORK, N. Y.
(fig. 11.34)
96

A tan paper label with a red double border fills the frame. Across the top center is faint gray handwriting “7182” above a printed line following “No.” on the left. Centered below in dark blue‑green print reads “W. S. Budworth & Son” and “PACKERS & SHIPPERS.” The bottom line lists “424 WEST 52nd ST., NEW YORK, N. Y.”

Fig. 11.34


Label, cat. 11.

Label:
Location: previous stretcher (discarded); label preserved in Conservation object file 
Method: handwritten script on printed label
Content: [F]ROM / THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART / [?] FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK / TO Mrs. Robert R. Mc Cormick / c/o … Johnson / 10 South Michigan Ave. / Chicago, Illinois / (15)
(fig. 11.35)
97

Top section shows a worn brown mailing label with printed black text reading “FROM THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART NEW YORK,” with a faint line below for “50 FIFTH AVENUE.” Across the middle, large black handwriting lists the recipient name, with “McCormick” on one line and “Johnson” on the next. Bottom lines read “10 South Michigan Ave, Chicago, Illinois,” also in black handwriting, with small holes and tears along the lower edge. A pale blue and white graph-paper background surrounds the label and shows through missing areas.

Fig. 11.35


Label, cat. 11.

Label:
Location: previous stretcher (discarded); label preserved in Conservation object file 
Method: printed label with handwritten script
Content: DATE  / ARTIST Cezanne / SUBJECT Baigneurs / OWNER’S NAME                                      / ADDRESS   
(fig. 11.36)
98

At the top, a tan, stained card shows the printed word DATE centered above a dotted line. Below, printed labels ARTIST and SUBJECT appear on the left with dotted lines; both lines contain large dark cursive handwriting that reads “Cezanne” and “Baigneurs.” Further down, smaller printed labels OWNER’S NAME and ADDRESS are present with empty dotted lines. The background is light to medium brown with darker brown patches, and small tears are visible along the left and right edges.

Fig. 11.36


Label, cat. 11.    

Post-1980

Label:
Location: stretcher
Method: printed label with handwritten script and green-ink inventory stamp
Content: THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO / CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60603, U.S.A. / To / Cézanne, Paul / The Bathers / 1942.457 
Stamp: Inventory — 1980 – 1981
(fig. 11.37)
99

At the top is a light brown wooden bar with a strip of gray, textured canvas beneath it. Centered below is a white rectangular label with black printed text reading “THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, CHICAGO ILLINOIS 60603, U.S.A.” and blue handwriting “Cézanne, Paul,” “The Bathers,” “1942.457,” plus a teal stamp “Inventory 1980–1981.” At the bottom left, a small silver metal bracket is attached to the wood, with brown fabric and wood surrounding the label.

Fig. 11.37


Label, cat. 11.

Label:
Location: backing board
Method: printed label with typewritten script
Content: Tate Gallery Millbank London SW1P 4RG Tel: 071-887 8000 Fax: 071-887 8007 / Cézanne (8 February – 28 April 1996) / Cat.no: 220 / Bathers 1899–1904 / Oil on canvas 51.3 x 61.7 / The Art Institute of Chicago. Amy McCormick Memorial / Collection 
(fig. 11.38)
100

Top row features red text on an off-white card: “Tate Gallery Millbank London SW1P 4RG Tel: 071-887 8000 Fax: 071-887 8007.” Below, in gray type: “Cézanne (8 February – 28 April 1996).” Continuing down, left-aligned lines read: “Cat.no: 220,” “Bathers 1899–1904,” “Oil on canvas 51.3 x 61.7,” and at the bottom “The Art Institute of Chicago. Amy McCormick Memorial Collection.”

Fig. 11.38


Label, cat. 11.

Label:
Location: backing board
Method: printed label with handwritten script
Content: [logo] Réunion des musées nationaux  Paris / CEZANNE / Galeries nationales du Grand Palais / 25 septembre 1995 – 7 janvier 1996 / Titre de l’oeuvre: / Propriétaire: / No du Catalogue / 220 
(fig. 11.39)
101

Rectangular off-white paper label on a pale gray surface, wider than it is tall and filling most of the frame. Top left is a small black circle with a lowercase “m,” and across the top in black reads “Réunion des musées nationaux Paris.” Below, smaller dark text states “CEZANNE, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 25 septembre 1995 - 7 janvier 1996.” The lower section lists “Titre de l’œuvre:”, “Propriétaire:”, and “No du Catalogue,” with the catalog number handwritten as “220” in dark ink.

Fig. 11.39


Label, cat. 11.

Label:
Location: backing board
Method: printed label
Content: The EY Exhibition: Cezanne / The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, USA) / Cezanne, Paul 1839-1906 / The Bathers 1899-1904 / Oil paint on canvas513 x 617 mm / The Art Institute of Chicago, Amy McCormick Memorial / Collection, 1942.457 / X76714 / [TATE logo]
(fig. 11.40)
102

A white rectangular label with rounded corners shows black text on a light wall. From top to bottom, the text reads: “The EY Exhibition: Cezanne,” “The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, USA),” “Cezanne, Paul 1839–1906,” “The Bathers 1899–1904,” “Oil paint on canvas, 513 × 617 mm,” “The Art Institute of Chicago, Amy McCormick Memorial Collection, 1942.457,” and “X76714.” On the lower right, a black dotted logo spells “TATE.”

Fig. 11.40


Label, cat. 11.

Label:
Location: backing board
Method: printed label
Content: [logo] National Gallery of Art / Washington, D.C. / Dex ID. 135 / Exhibit: Cézanne in Provence / Date: 01/29/06 – 05/07/06 / Artist: Paul Cézanne / Title: Bathers (Bagneuses) / Lender: The Art Institute of Chicago / Cat. No. 126
(fig. 11.41)
103

Rectangular white card with rounded corners and black text, showing a black eagle emblem at top left and “National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.”; “Dex ID. 135” appears at top right. Moving down, lines read “Exhibit: Cézanne in Provence” and “Date: 01/29/06 - 05/07/06.” Further down, “Artist: Paul Cézanne” and “Title: Bathers (Baigneuses)” are listed, followed by “Lender: The Art Institute of Chicago,” with “Cat No. 126” in the lower right; a faint crease is visible near the lower edge.

Fig. 11.41


Label, cat. 11.

Label:
Location: backing board
Method: printed label with typewritten script with two overlapping stickers
Content: KUNSTMUSEUM BASEL[?] / Künstler: P.Cézanne / Titel: The Bathers (Venturi 722) / Oel / 51,2 x 61,7 cm / Leihgeber: The Art Inst., Chicago USA 
Blue sticker: Kunstmuseum Basel / CÉZANNE / 10.Sept.-10.Dez.1989
Circular sticker: C38
(fig. 11.42)
104

Top-to-bottom and left-to-right, a beige rectangular label reads “KUNSTMUSEUM BASEL” at the top, with a medium blue sticker on the right saying “Kunstmuseum Basel CÉZANNE 10.Sept.-10.Dez.1989.” Below, typed black text lists “Künstler: P. Cézanne,” “Titel: The Bathers (Venturi 722),” “Oel / 51,2 x 61,7 cm,” and “Leihgeber: The Art Inst., Chicago USA.” On the far right edge, a small round beige sticker shows “C38” handwritten in dark ink; the label edges appear taped and slightly worn.

Fig. 11.42


Label, cat. 11.

Label:
Location: backing board
Method: printed label
Content: [logo] PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART / CÉZANNE EXHIBITION / May 30, 1996 – September 1, 1996 / Lender: The Art Institute of Chicago / Cat. No.: 220 (Lender No.: 1942.457) / Title: BATHERS / Crate No.:85 
(fig. 11.43)
105

Rectangular beige label with rounded corners and black text, oriented horizontally. Top left shows a small black emblem of a winged creature; to its right the text reads “PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART,” with “CÉZANNE EXHIBITION” below and the dates “May 30, 1996 – September 1, 1996.” Moving downward, lines read “Lender: The Art Institute of Chicago,” “Cat. No.: 220 (Lender No.: 1942.457),” “Title: BATHERS,” and “Crate No.: 85.”

Fig. 11.43


Label, cat. 11.

Stamp:
Location: stretcher
Method: green ink stamp
Content: Inventory — 1980 – 1981
(fig. 11.44)
106

A close-up of a brown, wood-grain surface fills most of the frame. Across the lower center, faded dark green text reads “inventory 1980 - 1981” with a double underline; a small round hole sits to the left of the text. The bottom edge of the board is visible, and below it is a gray, textured background.

Fig. 11.44


Stamp, cat. 11.

Markings Probably from Previous Use of Frame

Number:
Location: frame
Method: handwritten script
Content: 5 – 11 – 2 – 1[?]
(fig. 11.45)
107

Top edge shows a narrow black strip over a pale tan board with red marks; near the right, a single silver screw sits beside a thin vertical seam. Below this is a thinner beige strip running horizontally. The bottom half is a wider gray‑green board with scattered small holes and a black handwritten “6221,” and on the lower right two small gold brackets are fastened with silver screws.

Fig. 11.45


Number, cat. 11.

Number:
Location: frame
Method: handwritten script
Content: 6224
(fig. 11.45)
108

Number:
Location: frame
Method: handwritten script
Content: 6[?]
(fig. 11.46)
109

From left to right, a tan surface shows gray patches and speckles, with a faint blue looped mark near the lower left. Near the right-center is a small round hole bordered by a thin orange-brown ring, and a short blue smudge lies just to its left. At the bottom left corner, a tiny shiny round object rests on the surface. The hole and small objects are minor elements compared to the broad, flat background.

Fig. 11.46


Number, cat. 11.

Number:
Location: frame
Method: handwritten script
Content: 1977.721
(fig. 11.47)
110

Top section is a dark brown band with a rough, worn look. Below it, a wide tan band fills most of the frame, showing handwritten gray numbers “1977.721” near the center-left. Small rectangular holes are spaced along this tan area, with a tiny brown protrusion at the right hole and faint scratches across the surface. The numbers are medium-sized compared to the band and run horizontally left to right.

Fig. 11.47


Number, cat. 11.

Entry by

Notes

  1. See Mary Louise Krumrine, Paul Cézanne: The Bathers (Thames and Hudson, 1990), 252–53; and Giulia Ballas, Cézanne: Baigneuses et baigneurs; Thème et composition (Biro, 2002), 98.
  2. This illustration uses schematic drawings made by Krumrine and the color-coding employed by Ballas.
  3. See Krumrine, The Bathers, 252. 
  4. Walter Feilchenfeldt, Jayne Warman, and David Nash, eds., The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné, accessed June 1, 2025, http://www.cezannecatalogue.com, nos. 978 and (perhaps) 3010-x2a (hereafter FWN). See Krumrine, The Bathers, 252.
  5. For the argument that the two are the same, see Ballas, Baigneuses et baigneurs, 118–23; for the opposite view, see Krumrine, The Bathers, 252–53 (types 4 and 9). It is a moot point whether she is identical to or different from the similar figures in other paintings these sources identify.
  6. See Ballas, Baigneuses et baigneurs, 134–37; and Krumrine, The Bathers, 252–53 (types 6 and 15, facing forward). The rightmost figure is nevertheless far closer to a figure seen from the back found in several male Bathers. See Krumrine, The Bathers, 246–47 (type 1). See also 210, on Cezanne’s borrowings from male Bathers in the Chicago painting.
  7. See Krumrine, The Bathers, 252–53 (type 14).
  8. On the chronology of the three large Bathers, see Theodore Reff, “Cézanne’s Late Bather Paintings,” Arts Magazine 52 (Oct. 1977): 116–17; and the catalogue entry by Christopher Riopelle, “Bathers (Baigneurs),” in Cézanne in the Barnes Foundation, ed. André Dombrowski, Nancy Ireson, and Sylvie Patry (Rizzoli Electa, 2021), 306. See also note 11 below.
  9. Reading from left to right, these are: striding (Krumrine type 1, red), frontal in the water (Krumrine type 2, dark blue), arms raised standing against a tree (Krumrine type 6, maroon), seated facing left (Krumrine type 9, green), and seated seen frontal (Krumrine type 5, purple).
  10. The new figures are: seated facing right (Krumrine type 11, green), half-length standing seen from the rear (Krumrine type 3, two examples, light blue right of center), and, below them, prone inclined toward the top left of the painting (Krumrine type 12, light blue). 
  11. On the chronology of the painting in relation to the large Bathers, see Reff, “Cézanne’s Late Bather Paintings,” 118; the catalogue entry by Joe Rishel in Françoise Cachin et al., Cézanne, exh. cat. (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1996), 533–35; and Philip Conisbee, “The Atelier des Lauves,” in Cézanne in Provence, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Art; Yale University Press, 2006), 239. 
  12. On the derivation from Manet, see Ballas, Baigneuses et baigneurs, 42, 290; and Krumrine, Cézanne’s Bathers, 67. Cezanne mentioned the Salon des Refusés in a letter to Numa Coste of Feb. 27, 1864. See Paul Cézanne: Correspondance, ed. John Rewald (Grasset, 1978), 111.
  13. On the derivation of Manet’s figure, see Gustav Pauli, “Raffael und Manet,” Monatshefte für Kunstwissenschaft 1, no. 1 (Jan.–Feb. 1908): 53–55. On Cezanne’s derivations from Raimondi, see Ballas, Baigneuses et baigneurs, 42, 290; and Krumrine, Cézanne’s Bathers, 115.
  14. Cezanne to Roger Marx, Jan. 23, 1905, in Cezanne, Correspondance, 312: “On ne substitute pas au passé, on y ajoute seulement un nouveau chaînon.”
  15. On the derivation of this figure from the Saint Anthony painting, see Krumrine, Cézanne’s Bathers, 207; and Ballas, Baigneuses et baigneurs, 309. See also Meyer Schapiro, Cézanne (Harry N. Abrams, 1952), 29; and Reff, “Cézanne’s Late Bather Paintings,” 103.
  16. See Theodore Reff, “Cézanne, Flaubert, St. Anthony, and the Queen of Sheba,” Art Bulletin 44, no. 2 (June 1962): 113–25.
  17. See Krumrine, Cézanne’s Bathers, 207–8; and Ballas, Baigneuses et baigneurs, 309.
  18. See Krumrine, Cézanne’s Bathers, 55.
  19. Ambroise Vollard, Paul Cézanne (Ambroise Vollard, 1914), 96: “Son rêve eût été de faire poser ses modèles nus en plein air: mais c’était irréalisable pour beaucoup de raisons, dont la plus importante était que la femme, même habillée, l’intimidait.” See also Émile Bernard, “Souvenirs sur Paul Cézanne et lettres inédites,” Mercure de France 70, nos. 247 and 248 (Oct. 1 and 16, 1907): 395–96; Karl Ernst Osthaus, “Cézanne,” Feuer: Monatsschrift für Kunst und künstlerische Kultur 2, no. 1 (Oct. 1920): 84; Joachim Gasquet, Cézanne (Bernheim-Jeune, 1921), 34; Gustave Coquiot, Paul Cezanne (Paul Ollendorff, 1919), 144, 219; John Rewald, Cézanne: Sa vie, son œuvre, son amitié pour Zola (Albin Michel, 1939), 388; Jean Renoir, Renoir, mon père (Hachette, 1962), 128; and Aruna D’Souza, Cézanne’s Bathers: Biography and the Erotics of Paint (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008), 80–84.
  20. FWN 3018-11b relates to excursions Cezanne made along the Arc to Les Trois Sautets and the Gour de Martelly in August and September 1906. See Cezanne to Paul Cezanne fils, Aug. 14 and Sept. 2, 1906, in Correspondance, 321, 323, the latter of which mentions how “de grands arbres … forment la voûte au-dessus de l’eau” at the second venue.
  21. See Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Cézanne and Provence: The Painter in His Culture (University of Chicago Press, 2003), 190. See also 187–207 on Virgil and Arcadia.
  22. On this painting and its resemblance to Cezanne’s work, see Bruno Ely, “La plus haute sommité du département,” in Musée Granet, Sainte-Victoire: Cézanne, exh. cat. (Réunion des Musés Nationaux, 1990), 172. On Grésy and the bather, see Ballas, Baigneuses et baigneurs, 33. On Theocritus’s Arcadia, see Erwin Panofsky, “Poussin and the Elegaic Tradition,” in Meaning and the Visual Arts (Doubleday, 1955), 297.
  23. See Paul Smith, “Joachim Gasquet, Virgil and Cézanne’s Landscape: ‘My Beloved Golden Age,’” Apollo 148, no. 439 (Oct. 1998): 13.
  24. See Smith, “My Beloved Golden Age,” 15, 20n6. 
  25. See Gasquet, Cézanne, 59; and Smith, “My Beloved Golden Age,” 13, 20nn6–7.
  26. Joachim Gasquet, L’enfant (A. Dragon, 1900), n.p. See Smith, “My Beloved Golden Age,” 12–13.
  27. See Gasquet, Cézanne, 60; Smith, “My Beloved Golden Age,” 15; and Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Cézanne and Provence, 216–18.
  28. See Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Cézanne and Provence, 228–29.
  29. See Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Cézanne and Provence, 227.
  30. See Schapiro, Cézanne, 4–5. 
  31. See Mary Tompkins Lewis, Cézanne’s Early Imagery (University of California Press, 1989), 156–59.
  32. See Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Cézanne and Provence, 190. See also FWN 656 and 657, known euphemistically as The Battle of Love.
  33. Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Cézanne and Provence, 196.
  34. See Meyer Schapiro, “The Apples of Cézanne: An Essay on the Meaning of Still-Life,” in Modern Art: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Braziller, 1978), 4, 10.
  35. See Schapiro, Cézanne, 15; and Reff, “Cézannne’s Late Bather Paintings,” 117.
  36. See Tamar Garb, “Visuality and Sexuality in Cézanne’s Late Bathers,” Oxford Art Journal 19, no. 2 (1996): 56–58; and T. J. Clark, “Freud’s Cézanne,” Representations, no. 52 (Autumn 1995): 102–3, 108–10.
  37. D’Souza, Cézanne’s Bathers, 58.
  38. Ambroise Vollard, Paul Cézanne (Paris, 1914), 22: “la peinture ‘bien couillarde.’”
  39. See Stendhal [Henri Beyle], Histoire de la peinture en Italie (Paris, 1868). See also Charles Camoin, “Souvenirs sur Paul Cézanne,” L’amour de l’art 2, no. 1 (1921): 26. On Cézanne and Stendhal, see Robert William Ratcliffe, “Cézanne’s Working Methods and Their Theoretical Background” (PhD diss., Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, 1960), 312–27; and Marius Roux, The Substance and the Shadow, ed. Paul Smith, trans. Dick Collins and Fiona Cox (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007), xxvi, 114–15, 158.
  40. Stendhal, Histoire de la peinture en Italie, 214–15: “les effets stimulants de la bile coincident avec ceux de l’humeur seminale,” “des sensations violentes,” “temperament bilieux.” Cezanne also used Stendhalian language in 1870 when he told the journalist Henri-Charles Stock about the paintings he had submitted unsuccessfully to the Salon: “J’ai les sensations très fortes,” “j’ose.” See Henri-Charles Stock, “Le Salon par Stock,” Stock-Album, no. 3 (1870): n.p.
  41. Cezanne to Cezanne fils, Aug. 3, 1906, in Correspondance, 318–19: “vivent les Goncourt … et tous ceux qui onlt des propensions vers la couleur.”
  42. Émile Bernard, “Paul Cézanne,” L’Occident, no. 32 (July 1904): 22; and Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt, Manette Salomon (Paris, 1867), 2:266: “optique personelle.”
  43. Goncourt and Goncourt, Manette Salomon, 1:285–86: “des mâles énergies et des colères un peu sauvages,” “une sorte de paresse paresse d’adoration et de molle servitude heureuse,” “une si grande analogie avec la femme, de si intimes affinités avec le tempérament féminin.”
  44. See Charles Blanc, Grammaire des arts du dessin (Paris, 1867), 595.
  45. Garb, “Visuality and Sexuality,” 52–53.
  46. Vollard, Paul Cézanne, 96: “Il ne faisait d’exception que pour une servante qu’il avait eue, autrefois, au Jas de Bouffan, vieille créature au visage taillé à coups de serpe, et dont il disait à Zola avec admiration: ‘Regarde, est-ce beau? on dirait un homme!’” Vollard also recalls that Cezanne told him he intended to employ “une très vieille carne.” Other exceptions include models Cezanne named in his sketchbooks as Marie Louise and Aimée. See FWN 694, 3002-45a, and 3002–44b (recto), as well as the reconstruction of FWN 3002-43b and 3002-44a. All these images show the models with their hands raised over their heads.
  47. See Krumrine, Cézanne’s Bathers, 52–53.
  48. See Krumrine, Cézanne’s Bathers, 48, 210, 214, 218. The sketch is FWN 2178.
  49. FWN 3013-27a. See Goncourt and Goncourt, Manette Salomon, 1:262. On the sculpture, see W. Fröhner, Notice de la sculpture antique du Musée Impériale de Louvre (Paris, 1870), 1:449–50.
  50. For a summary of the literature on gender ambiguity in Cezanne’s Bathers, see Riopelle, “Bathers (Baigneurs),” 301–2.
  51. See cat. 1.
  52. See cat. 2.
  53. See cat. 13.
  54. For Cezanne’s statement “Frenhofer, c’est moi,” see Gasquet, Cézanne, 43. See also Gasquet, Cézanne, 26, 44, 92, 123. 
  55. Balzac, “Le chef d’œuvre inconnu,” in Œuvres complètes (Paris, 1855), 14:286: “le movement et la vie.” According to the notes Charles Toché took from a painting lesson with Édouard Manet, he believed that there were “pas de traits précis, de fils de fer dans une chose mouvante.” See Ambroise Vollard, Souvenirs d’un marchand de tableaux (Albin Michel, 1937), 177. 
  56. Matthew Simms, Cézanne’s Watercolors: Between Drawing and Painting (Yale University Press, 2008), 183.
  57. See Simms, Cézanne’s Watercolors, 189–90, which suggests that Cezanne “sought to retain the vital movement generated in his watercolor sketches in his large bather canvases.” Oils of bathers with similar compositions to the Chicago painting that employ contours to the same effect include FWN 967, 968, and 977. FWN 973, a painting of male bathers, also employs multiple contours applied at a late stage on the surface.
  58. The canvas fibers were not analyzed.
  59. See, for example, the chart of standard sizes available from Bourgeois Aîné in 1888, reproduced in David Bomford et al., Art in the Making: Impressionism, exh. cat. (National Gallery, London; Yale University Press, 1990), 46, fig. 31. After lining, the painting was mounted on a stretcher that is slightly larger than the original one, incorporating some of the tacking edges onto the picture plane (see Conservation History).
  60. This represents the finest canvas of the approximately seventy paintings by Cezanne that have been analyzed to date. Thread count and weave information were determined by Thread Count Automation Project software. See Don H. Johnson, “Thread Count Report: Paul Cézanne, The Bathers (FWN976/1942.457),” Sept. 2020, /files/a59a24c7-1bde-45ad-adae-74d24564b5c3/Cez_1942-457_Bathers_tcr_FWN976.pdf.
  61. Alfred Jakstas, examination report, Aug. 4, 1967, on file in the department of Conservation and Science, Art Institute of Chicago.
  62. Microscopically, regions of the ground layer near the left and bottom edges have a chunky appearance with large, coarsely ground lead white particles visible, possibly a local second layer applied to cover raw canvas near the edges.
  63. The ground composition was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX). For more detailed results and conditions used, see Kim Muir, “1942-457_Cezanne_Bathers_ARP_SEM_202212,” Dec. 1, 2022, on file in the department of Conservation and Science, Art Institute of Chicago.
  64. Though the techniques used to analyze the pigments cannot discriminate between the two types of copper-arsenate pigments available in the nineteenth century—emerald green and Scheele’s green—the former is more likely, since the use of Scheele’s green is rare and emerald green has been confirmed in Cezanne’s paintings at other institutions. See Francesca Rosi et al., “A Non-Invasive XRF Study Supported by Multivariate Statistical Analysis and Reflectance FTIR to Assess the Composition of Modern Painting Materials,” Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 71, no. 5 (2009): 1655–62, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.saa.2008.06.011; and Anya Shutova and Barbara Buckley, “Materials and Techniques: A Study of Cézanne’s Paintings in the Barnes Foundation,” in Cézanne in the Barnes Foundation, ed. André Dombrowski, Nancy Ireson, and Sylvie Patry (Rizzoli Electa, 2021), 31–57. However, recent investigations have further highlighted the complexities related to the identification of copper-arsenic compounds. See Leonardo Pantoja Munoz, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Revisiting the Synthesis, Characterisation, Degradation and the Intricate Relationship Between Scheele’s Green and Emerald Green,” Heritage Science 12, no. 94 (2024): https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-024-01192-7.
  65. See note 64 above.
  66. The presence of the pigments was inferred using the following methods: lead white (SEM/EDX, MA-XRF), ultramarine blue (SEM/EDX, HSI), cobalt blue (MA-XRF, HSI), emerald green (MA-XRF, HSI), viridian (MA-XRF, HSI), yellow/red oxides (XRF, HSI), vermilion (SEM/EDX, XRF, HSI), and possibly an organic yellow (inferred from the absence of inorganic elements in the XRF spectrum). Analysis was carried out on selected areas and may not include all pigments present in the painting. See Giovanni Verri, “1942-457_Cezanne_Bathers_ARP_XRF_HSI_202510”; and Muir, “1942-457_Cezanne_Bathers_ARP_SEM_202212,” on file in the department of Conservation and Science, Art Institute of Chicago.
  67. The binding medium was not analyzed. The estimation of an oil medium is based on visual examination, as well as on knowledge of Cezanne’s technique and published analyses of Cezanne’s paintings in other collections. See, for example, Charlotte Hale, “A Template for Experimentation: Cézanne’s Process and the Paintings of Hortense Fiquet,” in Dita Amory et al., Madame Cézanne, exh. cat. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014), 55; and Elisabeth Reissner, “Ways of Making: Practice and Innovation in Cézanne’s Paintings in the National Gallery,” National Gallery Technical Bulletin 29 (2008): 10.
  68. Alfred Jakstas, interdepartmental correspondence, May 2, 1967, on file in the department of Conservation and Science, Art Institute of Chicago.
  69. Alfred Jakstas, treatment report, June 24, 1968, on file in the department of Conservation and Science, Art Institute of Chicago.
  70. Allison Langley, treatment report, May 21, 2021, on file in the department of Conservation and Science, Art Institute of Chicago.
  71. John Rewald, The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné (Abrams, 1996), 1:512–13, no. 859; 2:301 (ill.).
  72. Wildenstein Galleries, Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Paul Cezanne, 1839–1906 (Paul Rosenberg, 1928), cat. 8.
  73. Daniel Catton Rich, ed., Catalogue of a Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1933), cat. 306.
  74. See exhibition materials for Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, Exhibition of Modern French Paintings, 1929, Archives of American Art, copy in curatorial file.

How to Cite

Entry by Paul Smith; Technical Report by Kim Muir with Giovanni Verri, “Cat. 11 The Bathers, 1899–1904,” in Cezanne Paintings and Watercolors at the Art Institute of Chicago, ed. Gloria Groom and Kim Muir (Art Institute of Chicago, 2026), https://doi.org/10.53269/9780865593251/16. © 2026 by The Art Institute of Chicago. This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

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