Paul Cezanne, 'Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses)', about 1894-1905
About the work
Overview
Around 200 of Cezanne’s works depict male and female nude bathers, either singly or in groups, in a landscape. This large painting is one of three pictures of female bathers that Cezanne worked on during the final decade of his life. They represent the culmination of his lifelong investigation of this subject and the climax of his entire career, and were hugely influential on early twentieth-century art.
The subject of women relaxing in a woodland glade beneath an azure sky draws on a classical tradition of pastoral scenes of nude or semi-nude figures in an idealised landscape. More particularly, it recalls pictures of bathing nymphs and goddesses, especially the mythological scenes of Venetian Renaissance art. However, Cezanne’s painting has no clear narrative or literary source. The composition, which echoes the pyramidal base of a mountain, as well as the use of colour, serves to integrate the women with the landscape. Cezanne’s last paintings might perhaps be seen as his final celebration of nature and our union with it.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses)
- Artist
- Paul Cezanne
- Artist dates
- 1839 - 1906
- Date made
- about 1894-1905
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 127.2 × 196.1 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Purchased with a special grant and the aid of the Max Rayne Foundation, 1964
- Inventory number
- NG6359
- Location
- Room 45
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 18th-century French Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, with additions and some revisions by Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, etc.’, London 1970; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2009Cézanne and BeyondPhiladelphia Museum of Art26 February 2009 - 31 May 2009
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2015SoundscapesThe National Gallery (London)8 July 2015 - 6 September 2015
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2022Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)The Art Institute of Chicago8 May 2022 - 5 September 2022Tate Modern5 October 2022 - 12 March 2023
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2023After Impressionism: Inventing Modern ArtThe National Gallery (London)25 March 2023 - 13 August 2023
Bibliography
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1919A. Vollard, Paul Cézanne, Paris 1919
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1926J. Borély, 'Cézanne à Aix', L'Art vivant, 1926
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1927R. Fry, Cézanne: A Study of His Development, London 1927
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1936L. Venturi, Cézanne: Son art, son oeuvre, Paris 1936
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1959J. Golding, Cubism: A History and an Analysis 1907-1914, London 1959
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1962M. Waldfogel, 'A Problem in Cézanne's Grandes Baigneuses', The Burlington Magazine, CIV/710, 1962, pp. 200-4
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1965The National Gallery, The National Gallery: June 1962 - December 1964, London 1965
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1966A. Stokes, 'The Image in Form: A Lecture', British Journal of Aesthetics, VI/3, 1966, pp. 246-58
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1970Davies, Martin, and Cecil Gould, National Gallery Catalogues: French School: Early 19th Century, Impressionists, Post-Impressionists etc., London 1970
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1977T. Reff, 'Painting and Theory in the Final Decade', in W. Rubin (ed.), Cézanne: The Late Work, New York 1977, pp. 38-44
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1978J. Borély, 'Cézanne à Aix', in P.M. Doran (ed.), Conversations avec Cézanne, Paris 1978
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1983A. Faxon, 'Cézanne's Sources for "Les Grandes Baigneuses"', Art Bulletin, 1983, pp. 320-3
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1988J. Gasquet, Cézanne, Grenoble 1988
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1989M.L. Krumrine, 'Les Baigneuses de Cézanne du Musée Granet', Impressions du Musée Granet, 1989, pp. 4-9
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1989M.L. Krumrine, Paul Cézanne: Die Badenden (exh. cat. Kunstmuseum, 10 September - 10 December 1989), Basel 1989
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1992S. Geist, 'Cézanne: The Large Bathers II', Source, 1992, pp. 15-23
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1992M.L. Krumrine, 'Cézanne's "Restricted Power": Further Reflections on the Bathers', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXIV/1074, 1992, pp. 586-95
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1993C. Riopelle, Great French Paintings from the Barnes Foundation: Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Early Modern, New York 1993
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1993V.J. Hull, 'From Drawings to Finished Work, Cézanne's "Amorous Shepherd"', Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, I, 1993, pp. 33-43
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1993A. Stokes, 'The Image in Form: A Lecture', in M. Kapos (ed.), The Post-Impressionists: A Retrospective, New York 1993, pp. 348-50
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1995P. Smith, Impressionism: Beneath the Surface, New York 1995
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1995F. Cachin et al., Cézanne (exh. cat. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 25 September 1995 - 7 January 1996; Tate Gallery, 8 February - 28 April 1996; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26 May - 18 August 1996), Paris 1995
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1996J. Rewald, W. Feilchenfeldt and J. Warman, The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné, London 1996
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1996T. Garb, 'Visuality and Sexuality in Cézanne's Later Bathers', Oxford Art Journal, XIX/2, 1996, pp. 46-60
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1996P. Johnson, 'Did this Woman-Hater and Fraudster Destroy Art?', Daily Mail, 1996
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1997D.F. Jenkins, '"Bathers" in Cézanne, Picasso and Matisse', Apollo, 1997, pp. 39-44
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.