Paul Cezanne, 'Avenue at Chantilly', 1888
About the work
Overview
Cezanne spent several months over the summer of 1888 working in and around Chantilly, some 24 miles north of Paris. This is one of three similar oil paintings of the park surrounding the chateau that he produced during his stay. The symmetry and spatial depth of this view may have appealed to him more than its historic associations, as he has focused on the avenue or path running through the Chantilly forest rather than on the town’s famous castle, seen in the distance.
Cezanne created an impression of depth by building up the landscape as a mosaic of carefully organised patches of colour. Warm ochre and reds contrast with cooler blues, greens and greys, and variations of tone suggest the play of light on foliage. Alternating bands of light and shade lead us in, and darker touches of blue and green define the structure of the trees and fences.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Avenue at Chantilly
- Artist
- Paul Cezanne
- Artist dates
- 1839 - 1906
- Date made
- 1888
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 82 × 66 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Acquired from the Chester Beatty family under the acceptance-in-lieu procedure, 1990
- Inventory number
- NG6525
- Location
- Room 44
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 18th-century French Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the National Gallery’s Annual Report, ‘The National Gallery Report: April 1989 – March 1990’.
Exhibition history
-
20121912: Mission ModerneWallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud31 August 2012 - 30 December 2012
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2021Cezanne to Malevich. Arcadia to AbstractionSzépművészeti Múzeum28 October 2021 - 13 February 2022
Bibliography
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1920J. Meier-Graefe, Cézanne und sein Kreis, Munich 1920
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1936L. Venturi, Cézanne: Son art, son oeuvre, Paris 1936
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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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1988S. Geist, Interpreting Cézanne, Cambridge MA 1988
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1990National Gallery, The National Gallery Report: April 1989- March 1990, London 1990
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1990R. Verdi, Cézanne and Poussin: The Classical Vision of Landscape (exh. cat. Scottish National Gallery, 9 August - 21 October 1990), Edinburgh 1990
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1991R. Kendall, Van Gogh to Picasso: The Berggruen Collection at the National Gallery (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 16 January - 21 April 1991), London 1991
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1993'Recent Acquisitions of Nineteenth Century Paintings at the National Gallery, London', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXV/1080, 1993, pp. 243-8
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1993G. Adriani, Cézanne Gemälde: Meisterwerke aus Vier Jahrzehnten (exh. cat. Kunsthalle Tübingen, 16 January - 2 May 1993), Cologne 1993
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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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1995J. House, Landscapes of France: Impressionism and its Rivals (exh. cat. Hayward Gallery, 18 May - 28 August 1995; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 4 October 1995 - 14 January 1996), London 1995
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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.