The Plate of Apples

c. 1877

In this still life, Paul Cezanne disrupted expectations for painting in the late 1870s by tipping the tabletop and plate forward toward the viewer and constructing a table with edges that don’t quite align. These disorienting details are complemented by the heavy, sculptural forms he created by using a pointed tool to incise contours around the plate and some of the apples.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Paul Cezanne (French, 1839–1906)

Date

c. 1877

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

45.8 × 54.7 cm (18 1/8 × 21 1/2 in.); Framed: 71.8 × 82.6 × 10.2 cm (28 1/4 × 32 1/2 × 4 in.)

Origin

France

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Gift of Kate L. Brewster