Still-Life with a Watermelon and Pomegranates

Paul Cézanne

1900–1906 · Watercolor over graphite on laid paper · Drawings and Prints

Of the twenty or so watercolor still lifes Cézanne produced during his final years, this work is among the most fully realized. With fluid strokes of saturated color, the artist calls attention to his skills of both observation—his attention to the reflections among objects is rarely as apparent—and creation. The rounded objects clustered together, including a hulking watermelon, two pomegranates, a bulbous glass vase or carafe, and a sugar bowl conjured from the reserved white of the paper, have both a volumetric quality and an intangibility. Marks in the corners left by thumbtacks, especially evident at upper right, are a reminder of the process of making this luminous and intensely colored sheet.

Artist

Paul Cézanne

Date

1900–1906

Medium

Watercolor over graphite on laid paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 2001, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2002