Paul Cézanne - The Cardplayer 1890-1892
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The Cardplayer 1890-1892
50x46cm oil/canvas
Paris, Musee d'Orsay
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From Paris, Musee d'Orsay:
At the beginning of the 1890s, Cézanne produced five paintings on the theme of card players. They differ in size, in the number of characters and in the importance of décor. This work is one of the many preparatory studies associated with this series.
It shows a card player who features in the two largest versions, but in a reversed position (Merion, Barnes Foundation; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) as well as in a scene with two characters (private collection), showing, as here, his left profile. The character with the drooping shoulders, now a "Cézanne figure", forms a solid mass, providing stability, with the other players, in the definitive compositions. His presence produces an effect of monumentality often found in portraits painted by Cézanne.