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The Fishermen (Fantastic Scene)

ca. 1875
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 826


The critic Georges Rivière admired this painting at the 1877 Impressionist exhibition, writing: "It is strikingly majestic and extraordinarily calm. It seems that the scene takes place in [Cézanne's] memory while he turns the pages of his life." The composite image of fishermen and elegantly attired strollers along a sunlit shore derives from paintings of outdoor leisure by Manet and Monet from the 1860s, and harkens back to pastoral prototypes that Cézanne admired in the work of the Venetian painters Giorgione, Titian, and Veronese.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Fishermen (Fantastic Scene)
  • Artist: Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence)
  • Date: ca. 1875
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 21 3/4 x 32 1/4 in. (55.2 x 81.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Heather Daniels and Katharine Whild, and Purchase, The Annenberg Foundation Gift, Gift of Joanne Toor Cummings, by exchange, Wolfe Fund, and Ellen Lichtenstein and Joanne Toor Cummings Bequests, Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Bernhard Gift, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Rodgers, and Wolfe Fund, by exchange, and funds from various donors, 2001
  • Object Number: 2001.473
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Studies of a tree (recto and verso), Paul Cézanne French, Graphite with green, blue and yellow washes (recto); graphite with green, blue and purple washes (verso)
Studies of a tree (recto and verso)
Paul Cézanne
1887–90
The Large Bathers (Les Baigneurs), Paul Cézanne French, Color lithograph on wove paper; first state of two
The Large Bathers (Les Baigneurs)
Paul Cézanne
ca. 1898
Portrait of Guillaumin with a Hanging Man, Paul Cézanne French, Etching and drypoint; second state of two (restrike)
Portrait of Guillaumin with a Hanging Man
Paul Cézanne
1873
Exhibition Announcement and Catalogue for a Cézanne show at the Galerie Vollard (May 9–June 10, 1898), Paul Cézanne French, Relief print
Exhibition Announcement and Catalogue for a Cézanne show at the Galerie Vollard (May 9–June 10, 1898)
Paul Cézanne
1898
Bathers (recto); Still Life (verso), Paul Cézanne French, Watercolor over graphite (recto); watercolor (verso)
Bathers (recto); Still Life (verso)
Paul Cézanne
ca. 1890 (recto) – 1900 (verso)

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