Madame Cezanne in a Yellow Chair

Madame Cezanne in a Yellow Chair by Paul Cezanne: This portrait is one in a series of four Paul Cezanne made of his wife, Emélie-Hortense Fiquet, whom he met w…

What to notice

Compare Madame Cézanne’s masklike face with her tightly crossed, actively brushed hands; the yellow chair and blue outlines stabilize competing emotional signals.

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This portrait is one in a series of four Paul Cezanne made of his wife, Emélie-Hortense Fiquet, whom he met when she worked as an artist’s model. They had a son together in 1872 and married in 1886. Technical examination suggests that Cezanne traced this image, the second in the series, from the first portrait, which he made from life. In contrast to her masklike expression, Hortense’s hands are agitated, contorted by crisscrossing brushstrokes and the dark-blue outlines Cezanne used to sketch out the forms, which…