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A bearded man with a coppery-peach completion, wearing a dark, navy-blue brimmed cap, vest, jacket, and pants sits on a wooden bench or chair against a green background in this vertical portrait. The scene is loosely painted with thick, visible brushstrokes in kelly and shamrock green, deep, midnight blue, tawny brown, and charcoal gray to create a mottled effect. The man’s body is angled to our right and he looks in that direction. His legs are crossed and are cropped below the knees by the bottom right corner of the canvas. His fingers are interlaced in his lap with one thumb hooked between buttons on his vest. He has a long nose and his lips are closed. Touches of vibrant robin’s egg blue, sage green, pumpkin orange, and brick red enliven the dark clothing and shadows on the man’s features.

Paul Cezanne

The Gardener Vallier, 1906

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 84

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 107.4 × 74.5 cm (42 5/16 × 29 5/16 in.)

framed: 130.81 × 97.47 × 8.89 cm (51 1/2 × 38 3/8 × 3 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer

Accession Number

1959.2.1

Artists / Makers

Paul Cezanne (artist) French, 1839 - 1906

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

Acquired possibly from the Cezanne estate by (Ambroise Vollard [1867-1939], Paris); sold 1916 through Edward Steichen [1879-1973] to Eugene [1875-1959] and Agnes Ernst Meyer [1887-1970], Mount Kisco, New York, and Washington, D.C.;[1] gift 1959 to NGA.

[1] For Steichen's role, see letter dated 12 July 1977 from Katherine Graham in NGA curatorial files; lent by the Meyers to the 1921 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition.

Associated Names

Meyer, Agnes Ernst
Meyer, Eugene and Agnes Ernst
Steichen, Edward
Vollard, Ambroise

Exhibition History

1920: Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1920, unnumbered catalogue, as A Sailor.

1921: Loan Exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Paintings, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1921, no. 24, as A Sailor.

1923: Loan, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1923.

1932: The Taste of Today in Masterpieces of Painting before 1900, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1932, no cat.

1971: Cezanne: An Exhibition in Honor of the Fiftieth Anniversary of The Phillips Collection, The Phillips Collection, Washington; The Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1971, no. 54, repro. [exhibited in Washington only]

1977: Cézanne: The Late Work, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Grand Palais, Paris, 1977, no. 66, repro.

1979: Post-Impressionism: Cross-Currents in European Painting, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1979-1980, no. 49, repro.

1980: Post-Impressionism: Cross-Currents in European and American Painting 1880-1906, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, no. 21, repro.

2012: Cézanne. Paris-Provence, The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2012, no. 71, repro.

2017: Cézanne Portraits, Musée D'Orsay, Paris; National Portrait Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2017-2018, no. 25.1, repro.

2020: Cezanne et les maîtres Rêve d’Italie [Cezanne and the Master Painters. A dream of Italy], Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, 2020 - 2021, no. 17, repro.

Bibliography

1923: Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1923): 263.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 25, as The Sailor.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 17, repro., as The Sailor.

1970: Orienti 1970, no.618.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 60, repro., as The Sailor.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 503, no. 746, color repro., as The Sailor.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 79, repro.

1996: Rewald, John. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: a catalogue raisonné. 2 vols. New York, 1996:no. 949, repro.