Early twentieth-century scholars identified this man with mutton-chop sideburns as Cézanne himself, but he is actually the artist’s boyhood friend Gustave Boyer, a lawyer who sat for two other portraits around 1870–71. The painterly surface of this canvas, the liberal use of black and gray, and the boldly realized forms are typical of Cézanne’s work at the time.
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Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Object Number:29.100.65
Inscription: Signed (lower right): P. Cezanne
[Ambroise Vollard, Paris, until 1904; probably stock book B, no. 3947; acquired from either the artist or his son, Paul Cézanne fils (possibly as agent for the sitter, the artist's friend Gustave Boyer, Eguilles); sold for Fr 3,000 to Havemeyer (shipped December 24, 1904, per instruction of Mary Cassatt, to Durand-Ruel, Paris, to be forwarded to H. O. Havemeyer)]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1904–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; cat., 1931, pp. 58–59, ill., as "Portrait—Man with a Straw Hat")
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 4 (as "Man with a Straw Hat") [2nd ed., New York, 1958, no. 63].
Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "Cézanne," May–October 1936, no. 15 (as "Portrait de Boyer").
Toledo Museum of Art. "Cézanne, Gauguin," November 1–December 13, 1936, no. 23 (as "Man with a Straw Hat").
Huntington, N.Y. Heckschers Art Museum. "European Influence on American Painting of the 19th Century," June 8–29, 1947, no. 31 (as "Man with Straw Hat").
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "The Art of Cézanne," January 7–February 5, 1950, no catalogue.
Richmond. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Paintings by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists," October 20–November 19, 1950, unnum. checklist (as "Man with a Straw Hat—Portrait of Boyer").
Utica, N.Y. Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. "Picture of the Month," April 1951, no catalogue.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Cézanne: Paintings, Watercolors & Drawings," February 7–March 16, 1952, no. 10.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cézanne: Paintings, Watercolors & Drawings," April 4–May 18, 1952, no. 10.
Aix-en-Provence. Musée Granet. "Cézanne: Peintures, Aquarelles, Dessins," July 3–August 5, 1953, no. 4 (as "Portrait de Boyer").
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nice. "Cézanne: Peintures, Aquarelles, Dessins," August 8–September 12, 1953, no. 4.
Grenoble. Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture. "Cézanne: Peintures, Aquarelles, Dessins," September 15–November 1, 1953, no. 4.
Wichita Art Museum. "Three Centuries of French Painting," May 9–23, 1954, no. 16 (as "Man with a Straw Hat").
Edinburgh. Royal Scottish Academy Building. "Cézanne," August 20–September 18, 1954, no. 7 (as "L'homme au chapeau de paille").
London. Tate Gallery. "Cézanne," September 28–October 27, 1954, no. 7.
The Hague. Gemeentemuseum. "Paul Cézanne 1839–1906," June–July 1956, no. 5 (as "Man met strohoed [portret van Gustave Boyer]").
Kunsthaus Zürich. "Paul Cézanne, 1839–1906," August 22–October 7, 1956, no. 10 (as "Der Mann mit dem Strohhut [Bildnis Gustave Boyer]").
Haus der Kunst München. "Paul Cézanne, 1839–1906," October–November 1956, no. 6 (as "Der Mann mit dem Strohhut [Bildnis Boyer]" and "Der Mann mit dem Strohhut [Bildnis G. Boyer]").
Cologne. Kunsthaus Lempertz. "Cézanne," December 1, 1956–January 1, 1957, no. 2 (as "Der Mann mit dem Strohhut—Bildnis Gustave Boyer").
Vienna. Osterreichische Galerie, Oberes Belvedere. "Paul Cézanne, 1839–1906," April 14–June 18, 1961, no. 6 (as "Man in Straw Hat [Portrait of Gustave Boyer]").
Fort Worth Art Center. "Spectrum: A Cross Section from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 8–April 12, 1970, unnumbered cat. (as "Man with a Straw Hat—Portrait of Boyer").
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Cézanne: The Early Years, 1859–1872," April 22–August 21, 1988, no. 57 (as "The Man with a Straw Hat—Gustave Boyer").
Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "Cézanne: les années de jeunesse, 1859–1872," September 19, 1988–January 1, 1989, no. 57.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Cézanne: The Early Years, 1859–1872," January 29–April 30, 1989, no. 57.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Splendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection," March 27–June 20, 1993, no. A68 (as "Gustave Boyer in a Straw Hat").
Julius Meier-Graefe. Impressionisten. 2nd ed. Munich, 1907, ill. p. 181, calls it "Selbstbildnis" and dates it about 1875.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Paul Cézanne. 3rd ed., rev. and enl. Munich, 1910, ill. p. 48, dates it about 1873.
Ambroise Vollard. Paul Cézanne. [Eng. ed., 1923]. Paris, 1914, p. 34 n. 1, pl. 11, calls it "L'homme au chapeau de paille" and dates it 1872.
Gustave Coquiot. Paul Cézanne. Paris, [1919], pp. 68, 245, calls it "L'homme au chapeau de paille" and dates it 1872.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Cézanne und sein Kreis: Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte. 3rd ed. [1st ed., 1918]. Munich, 1920, ill. p. 102, calls it a self-portrait and dates it about 1873.
Emile Bernard. "La technique de Paul Cézanne." L'amour de l'art 1 (1920), ill. p. 277, calls it "L'homme au chapeau de paille".
Curt Glaser. Paul Cézanne. Leipzig, 1922, pl. 1, calls it "Selbstporträt" and dates it about 1872.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Cézanne und sein Kreis. Munich, 1922, ill. p. 120, calls it "Selbstbildnis" and dates it 1874.
Georges Rivière. Le Maître Paul Cézanne. Paris, 1923, p. 200, calls it "Portrait de Boyer" and dates it 1873; mentions another portrait of the same sitter, with bare head (V130, R175; or V132, R176), from the same period.
Ambroise Vollard. Paul Cézanne: His Life and Art. New York, 1923, ill. opp. p. 20, calls it "A Portrait".
Tristan-L. Klingsor. Cézanne. 2nd ed. [1st ed. 1923]. Paris, 1924, p. 16, considers it a self-portrait of about 1872, painted when the artist was thirty-three years old, supporting this identification with comparison to an etched portrait of Cézanne made by Pissarro two years later [see Loys Delteil, "Le peintre graveur illustré," vol. 17, New York, 1969, no. 13].
O. V. Borch. "Paul Cézanne." Samleren 6 (July 1929), p. 99, ill. p. 97, calls it "Selvportrœt".
"Havemeyer Collection at Metropolitan Museum: Havemeyers Paid Small Sums for Masterpieces." Art News 28 (March 15, 1930), p. 43, ill., calls it "Man with a Straw Hat" and remarks that it is "great only in spots".
"The H. O. Havemeyer Collection." Parnassus 2 (March 1930), p. 7, calls the Cézannes the "climax and summary of the [Havemeyer] collection" and notes that this work is reminiscent of Courbet in "the rich matiere and sombre palette".
Alan Burroughs. "The Links of Tradition: A Study of the H. O. Havemeyer Collection." Creative Art 7 (November 1930), p. 334, ill., compares its "large handling of pigment" to Manet and its composition to Rembrandt's portrait of Herman Doomer (MMA 29.100.1).
Frank Jewett Mather Jr. "The Havemeyer Pictures." The Arts 16 (March 1930), pp. 450, 483, calls it "Portrait of a Man in a Straw Hat" and comments that the Havemeyer paintings by Courbet, Manet, and Degas are of greater importance; suggests that Arthur B. Davies advised Mrs. Havemeyer to purchase her Cézanne paintings.
Harry B. Wehle. "The Exhibition of the H. O. Havemeyer Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 25 (March 1930), p. 58, comments that "the vitality of the head is inescapable".
H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 58–59, ill., calls it "Portrait—Man with a Straw Hat" and dates it about 1873; notes that it is "probably a self-portrait".
Fritz Neugass. "Paul Cézanne." Creative Art 9 (October 1931), ill. p. 274.
Nina Iavorskaia. Paul Cézanne. Milan, 1935, pl. VIII, calls it a self-portrait and dates it 1874.
Gerstle Mack. Paul Cézanne. New York, 1935, p. 183, believes it to be a portrait of Boyer and dates it to the Auvers period (1872–74); publishes a letter and poetry written by Cézanne in 1858 that mention Boyer.
Lionello Venturi. "Cézanne." L'arte 6 (July 1935), p. 312, dates it 1870–72.
Lionello Venturi. Cézanne: son art—son oeuvre. Paris, 1936, vol. 1, pp. 23, 96, no. 131; vol. 2, pl. 33, no. 131, calls it "L'homme au chapeau de paille (Portrait de Boyer)" and dates it 1870–71; identifies Boyer as a childhood friend of Cézanne who became a notary in Eyguières; mentions the realism of this work and the influence of Manet.
René Huyghe. "Cézanne et son oeuvre." L'amour de l'art 17 (May 1936), fig. 46, calls it "Portrait de Boyer" and dates it about 1871.
Jacques de Laprade. "L'exposition Cézanne à l'Orangerie." Beaux-Arts no. 177 (May 22, 1936), p. 2, calls it "Homme au chapeau de paille" and discusses it with "Portrait d'Antoine-Fortuné Marion" (Kunstmuseum Basel; V129, R177).
Charles Sterling inCézanne. Exh. cat., Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, 1936, pp. 61–62, no. 15, dates it about 1870–71, based on the similarity in style and technique of "Neige fondante à l'Estaque" (private collection, Switzerland; V51, R157); considers Rivière's date of 1873 [see Rivière 1923] too late since Cézanne was influenced by the Impressionists at this time and his palette was lighter; mentions another portrait of Boyer, formerly in the Vollard collection, which he dates probably later than ours (either V130, R175 or V132, R176).
Robert J. Goldwater. "Cézanne in America: The Master's Paintings in American Collections." Art News Annual, section I (The 1938 Annual), 36 (March 26, 1938), p. 136, calls it "Man in a Straw Hat"; perceives Cézanne's move toward Impressionism from 1872 to 1874 and the influence of Pissarro in this picture.
Albert C. Barnes and Violette De Mazia. The Art of Cézanne. New York, 1939, pp. 168, 313–14, 405, no. 30, ill., date it to the early 1870s; discuss the use of an "orange-salmon color," which Cézanne used frequently after his contact with Pissarro; compare it to Manet's "Dead Christ with Angels" (MMA 29.100.51) and "Woman in Landscape" (Barnes Foundation, Merion, Penn); note that the impression of receding planes in the background may be due to repainting.
Raymond Cogniat. Cézanne. Paris, 1939, pl. 28, calls it "L'homme au chapeau de paille" and dates it 1870–71.
Preface by Edward Alden Jewell inFrench Impressionists and Their Contemporaries Represented in American Collections. New York, 1944, ill. p. 148 (color), calls it "Man with a Straw Hat—Portrait of Boyer".
Edward Alden Jewell. Paul Cézanne. New York, 1944, ill. p. 31 (color).
Aimée Crane, ed. A Gallery of Great Paintings. New York, 1944, ill. p. 74 (color), calls it "Man with a Straw Hat".
Bernard Dorival. Cézanne. [English ed., 1948]. Paris, 1948, pp. 29, 134, 145–46, pl. 23, calls it "Portrait de Boyer" and dates it 1869–70.
"Portrait by Cézanne." Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute Bulletin (April 1951), unpaginated, ill., dates it 1870–71 and notes that the canvas is on view in the Art Gallery as the "object of the month"; calls it "one of the early examples of Pissarro's influence on Cézanne".
Meyer Schapiro. Paul Cézanne. 1st ed. New York, 1952, pp. 40–41, 46, 56, ill. (color), calls it "The Man with a Straw Hat (Portrait of Boyer)"; comments that Cézanne has given Boyer "the quality of a Balzacian provincial character" and notes its similarity to a contemporaneous photograph of the artist's father.
Daniel Catton Rich inCézanne: Paintings, Watercolors & Drawings. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. [Chicago], 1952, pp. 19–20, no. 10, ill., finds in this work "something of the fluency of Manet".
Douglas Cooper. "Two Cézanne Exhibitions—I." Burlington Magazine 96 (November 1954), p. 346, dates it about 1871 and includes it among works which conclude the first period of Cézanne's development.
Lawrence Gowing and Ronald Alley. An Exhibition of Paintings by Cézanne. Exh. cat., Royal Scottish Academy Building. Edinburgh, 1954, p. 6, no. 7, date it about 1871; describe the sitter's commonplace features as "idealized until they took on the Balzacian look of Louis-Auguste"; believe the other two portraits of Boyer (V130, R175; V132, R176) were painted about the same time, calling the latter a possible preliminary study for this picture.
Maurice Raynal. Cézanne. Lausanne, 1954, pp. 30–31, no. 5, ill. (color).
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 17.
Cézanne. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Lempertz. Cologne, 1956, pp. 16–17, no. 2, ill., mentions the influence of Daumier and Manet in this picture.
"Tentoonstelling in Den Haag: Paul Cezanne, vernieuwer, die klassieke eenvoud herstelde." De Volkskrant (June 2, 1956), p. 11, as "Man met Strohoed" (Man with Straw Hat).
Robert William Ratcliffe. "Cézanne's Working Methods and Their Theoretical Background." PhD diss., University of London, 1960, p. 87, comments on the "reddish-mauve underpainting" that creates "the rather sombre but yet enlivened grey".
Peter H. Feist. Paul Cézanne. Leipzig, 1963, pp. 23, 54, 73, pl. 10.
Wayne V. Andersen. "A Cézanne Self-Portrait Drawing Reidentified." Burlington Magazine 106 (June 1964), p. 285, fig. 34, calls it "Portrait of Gustave Boyer," the most important of the three oil portraits of this sitter; dates all three not later than 1872, noting the stylistic affinity of the MMA work to "La barque de Dante" (1872; private collection, Cambridge, Mass.; V125, R172); identifies Boyer as the sitter for a pencil portrait (formerly collection Kenneth Clark, London; V1236, Chappuis 1973, no. 157), also from the same period.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 3, XIX–XX Centuries. New York, 1967, pp. 97–98, ill., date it about 1870–71; observe that the tonal contrasts and expressionistic qualities place it within the artist's romantic period, even though it does not display use of the palette knife.
Frank Elgar. Cézanne. New York, [1969], pp. 32, 45, 276, fig. 17 (color), calls it "Portrait of Boyer with a Straw Hat"; remarks that it does not convey any psychological meaning.
Chuji Ikegami. Cézanne. Tokyo, 1969, p. 112, no. 4, ill. (color and black and white).
Sandra Orienti inL'opera completa di Cézanne. [French ed., 1975; English ed., 1985]. Milan, 1970, p. 89, no. 80, ill.
Wayne Andersen. Cézanne's Portrait Drawings. Cambridge, Mass., 1970, pp. 7–8, 194, fig. 7, dates it 1870–72 and discusses other proposed dates; comments that this work shows "Cézanne's tendency to become increasingly naturalistic toward 1872"; compares it to Cézanne's drawings of Boyer (V1236, C157) and Achille Emperaire (Kunstmuseum Basel; V1194).
Adrien Chappuis. The Drawings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné. Greenwich, Conn., 1973, vol. 1, p. 82, under no. 157.
Meyer Schapiro. P. Cézanne. Paris, 1973, unpaginated, colorpl. 5.
Maurice Sérullaz inPhaidon Encyclopedia of Impressionism. Oxford, 1978, pp. 71, 73, 263, ill. (color), calls it "Portrait of Boyer with a Straw Hat" and dates it 1869–70.
Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, pp. 147, 256, fig. 117, calls it "Man in a Straw Hat—Portrait of Gustave Boyer" and dates it about 1871; states that Durand-Ruel purchased this work from Vollard on behalf of the Havemeyers in 1903.
Lawrence Gowing inCézanne: The Early Years 1859–1872. Ed. Mary Anne Stevens. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London. New York, 1988, pp. 17, 166, 184–85, 216, 219, no. 57, ill. (color) [French ed., Paris, 1988, pp. 29, 138, 153, 196, 201, 205, 211, no. 57, ill. (color)], calls it "The Man with a Straw Hat—Gustave Boyer" and dates it about 1871; compares it to the "streaky grey and black style" of "Factories near Mont de Cengle" (private collection; V58, R132).
Sylvie Patin inCézanne: The Early Years 1859–1872. Ed. Mary Anne Stevens. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London. New York, 1988, p. 62 [French ed., Paris, 1988, p. 61].
John Rewald with the research assistance of Frances Weitzenhoffer. Cézanne and America: Dealers, Collectors, Artists and Critics, 1891–1921. The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, Princeton, 1989, p. 30 n. 34, p. 50, p. 51 n. 29, p. 128 n. 44, pp. 193, 311, 346, fig. 24, calls it "Portrait of Gustave Boyer with a Straw Hat" and dates it about 1871; states that the Havemeyers bought this picture from Vollard, and identifies it as the "Portrait of a Man" shipped by Durand-Ruel in Paris to a Mr. Huss in New York (possibly an agent for Mr. Havemeyer) on May 7, 1903; compares it to a "more brooding and much less 'dashing'" portrait of Boyer (V130, R175).
Susan Alyson Stein inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 235, states that the Havemeyers bought this work from Vollard for Fr 1,500 in April 1903, while they were in Paris, and that Durand-Ruel shipped it to New York for them on May 7, along with other works; notes that according to their archives, Durand-Ruel arranged for shipping but was not involved in the sale itself.
Gretchen Wold inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 302–3, no. A68, ill.
Maria Teresa Benedetti. Cézanne. [Italian ed., 1995]. Paris, 1995, p. 82, ill. (color).
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 465, ill.
Walter Feilchenfeldt inCézanne. Exh. cat., Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris. Philadelphia, 1996, p. 574 [French ed., Paris, 1995].
John Rewald, in collaboration with Walter Feilchenfeldt, and Jayne Warman. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 139–40, 568–72, no. 174; vol. 2, p. 60, fig. 174, calls it "L'Homme au chapeau de paille—Gustave Boyer" and dates it about 1871, slightly later than the other two portraits of Boyer (present location unknown and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; R175, 176).
Heather McPherson Cambridge University Press. The Modern Portrait in Nineteenth-Century France. Cambridge, 2001, pp. 127, 242 n. 81, compares it to "Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat" (about 1878–79; Museum of Modern Art, New York; V287, R384).
Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer. "Cézanne et ses amis au Jas de Bouffan." Jas de Bouffan—Cézanne. Aix-en-Provence, 2004, p. 49, fig. 21 (color).
Luc Antonini and Nicolas Flippe. La famille Cézanne, Paul et les autres. Paris, 2006, p. 87.
Pavel Machotka. Cézanne: The Eye and the Mind. Marseilles, 2008, vol. 1, unpaginated, no. 60, ill. (color); vol. 2, p. 58, ill., as "L'homme au chapeau de Paille – Gustav Boyer"; dates it about 1871.
Jayne S. Warman in Gail Stavitsky and Katherine Rothkopf. Cézanne and American Modernism. Exh. cat., Montclair Art Museum. Montclair, 2009, pp. 83, 88 n. 37.
Emily Schuchardt Navratil in Gail Stavitsky and Katherine Rothkopf. Cézanne and American Modernism. Exh. cat., Montclair Art Museum. Montclair, 2009, p. 361.
Walter Feilchenfeldt, Jayne Warman, and David Nash. The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. 2014–?, no. 429, ill. (color) [https://www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=181], as “L'Homme au chapeau de paille (Gustave Boyer)”; date it about 1870.
Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer. "Les visiteurs provençaux." Cezanne Jas de Bouffan: Art et histoire. Ed. Denis Coutagne and François Chédeville. Lyons, 2019, p. 79, fig. 63.
Laura D. Corey and Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen. "Visions of Collecting." Making The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, pp. 140, 365 n. 54.
There are two other oil portraits of Boyer, both dated about 1870 by Rewald (1996): present location unknown, Venturi 1936, no. 130, Rewald 1996, no. 175; and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, V132, R176). These paintings have often been mistaken for self-portraits. Andersen (1964) has also identified a pencil drawing as a portrait of Boyer (present location uknown; V1236; Chappuis 1973, no. 157).
Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence)
ca. 1890 (recto) – 1900 (verso)
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