The Bathers

The Bathers by Paul Cezanne: Paul Cezanne set this idyllic view of a group of bathers in a frame of foliage. He rendered the ground, water, trees, and sky with…

What to notice

Follow the bodies as they echo the enclosing tree trunks; hatched color binds figures, bank, water, and sky into one deliberately balanced construction.

Discover

Paul Cezanne set this idyllic view of a group of bathers in a frame of foliage. He rendered the ground, water, trees, and sky with patches of hatching that seem to register the energy he felt when painting. His primary concern, however, seems to have been striking a balance between the vigor of the bodies and the restfulness of the setting through individual poses and figure groupings—some invented, some likely derived from his other works depicting this subject. Over the course of his career, Cezanne frequently r…