Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2017.

Bather and Rocks

Artist Paul Cézanne (French, 1839-1906)

Dateca. 1860-1866

MediumOil on canvas, transferred from plaster

Dimensions66 × 41 1/2 in. (167.6 × 105.4 cm)
Overall, Frame: 77 1/4 × 52 3/8 × 3 3/4 in. (196.2 × 133 × 9.5 cm)

ClassificationsEuropean art

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.505

Terms

Man
Rocks
Nude
Blue
Green
Tan
Black
White

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting of a muscled male nude, as seen from the back. It is heavily abstracted, composed with heavy black contours and a turbulent brush technique. This was a part of a larger piece titled _Landscape with Bather_, which was executed in oil directly on the plaster walls of the grand salon of the Jas de Bouffan mansion, located on the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence, France.

Label TextPaul Cézanne French, 1839–1906 Bather and Rocks, ca. 1860–66 Oil on canvas, transferred from plaster Although it looks like a complete work, Bather and Rocks is a section of a much larger mural. At the time he painted it, Paul Cézanne was living in an 18th-century mansion in southern France. The artist covered a wall of its grand salon with a landscape that included this figure in the foreground. In 1907, the year after Cézanne’s death, this portion of the painting was detached from the wall, transferred to canvas, and sold. Even as a fragment, Bather and Rocks is a work of remarkable power and vigor. Painted with an almost violent energy, the heavily muscled nude faces a massive rock, which he seems to be holding up against the force of the rushing water. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.505