Not to be redundant, but Paul Cezanne’s Still Life with Fruit Dish makes its appearance in Paul Gauguin’s Woman in front of a Still Life by Cezanne. I know what you’re thinking: WOW, Gauguin, super original.
A few things I absolutely hate about this work (surprise, surprise)…
1. Knife: Why does it look like it’s floating!? Worst.
2. Signature: Gauguin does a pretty rude move where he signs the white border of the Cezanne work. Like, are you serious, Gauguin? Way to take credit for a work you didn’t actually create with that borrowed background! Lucky us, though, since we get to interpret the signature as witness (a la Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Wedding Portrait) or as a self-important chump (a la Duchamp’s urinal). Personally, I’m going with latter.
3. Ownership: Gauguin once said that he would never sell this Cezanne without “direst necessity.” But guess what?! He later sold it to pay for medical treatment in Tahiti…something to do with syphilis, perhaps? (I ignore ALL dental analysis theories; don’t you dare rain on my parade, science!)
4. That WAIST: Mainly since I’m damn jealous. You can keep your hate-filled glare, though, girl. I’m not about that.
arthipstory 