Art Institute of Chicago

Standing Bather, Seen from the Back

Paul Cezanne (French, 1839–1906)

Date

1879-82

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

France

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

In the course of making an artwork, Paul Cezanne often significantly altered his original design. Someone, perhaps the artist, cut this canvas from a larger painting, retaining remnants of the other composition. In the lower-left corner, a series of blue lines can be read as the legs of a seated figure from knees to ankles; the body may have continued on an adjacent part of the canvas. These lines sit on top of the background foliage, indicating that Cezanne added this second figure after completing the first, presumably before changing his mind about the direction of the painting or moving on to another work.

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