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.
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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
Victor Chocquet, Paris (until d. 1891; bought from the artist); his widow, Marie Chocquet, Paris (1891–d. 1899; her sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, July 1, 3–4, 1899, no. 22, as "Les pêcheurs," for Fr 2,350 to Hessel); [Josse Hessel, Paris, from 1899]; [Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, until 1907; sold on July 18, for Fr 9,500, to Cassirer]; [Paul Cassirer, Berlin, 1907–9; stock no. 959, sold on Jan. 4, 1908 to Nationalgalerie, Berlin, for 16,310 marks (Fr 20,000), purchase never completed; returned to dealer on March 21, 1908, whereupon assigned new stock no. 1079, and sold on Jan. 26, 1909 for 13,200 marks to Liebermann]; Max Liebermann, Berlin (1909–d. 1935; one of fourteen paintings deposited by Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zürich, as agent, at Kunsthaus Zürich, from May 9, 1933 to October 19, 1936); possibly his widow, Martha Liebermann, Berlin (1935–38; painting remained at Kunsthaus Zürich, apparently until released to Riezler); their daughter, Mrs. Kurt (Käthe) Riezler, Berlin, until November 10, 1938, and New York, by 1939 (1938–d. 1952); her daughter, Mrs. Howard B. (Maria Riezler) White, Northport, New York (1952–d. 1995); her daughters, Heather Daniels and Katharine Whild (1995–2001)
Paris. 6, rue le Peletier. "3e exposition de peinture [3rd Impressionist exhibition]," April 1877, not in catalogue [see Rivière 1877 and Rewald 1996].
Berlin. Paul Cassirer. "Cézanne," May–June 1904, no catalogue [see Rosenhagen 1904 and Rewald 1996].
Berlin. Paul Cassirer. "Fünfzehnten Ausstellung der Berliner Secession," 1908, no. 38 (as "Sommer-Sonntag").
Berlin. Paul Cassirer. "XII. Jahrgang, III. Ausstellung [Cézanne Ausstellung]," November 17–December 12, 1909, no. 27 (as "Sommer-Sonntag," lent from a private collection).
Kunsthalle Basel. "Paul Cézanne," August 30–October 12, 1936, no. 12 (as "Scène fantastique [La journée de juillet]," lent by a private collection).
Amsterdam. Stedelijk Museum. "Honderd Jaar Fransche Kunst," July 2–September 25, 1938, no. 9 (as "Scène fantastique: journée de juillet," lent by a private collection).
New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc. "Cézanne," March 27–April 26, 1947, no. 7 (as "Scène Fantastique," lent by Dr. and Mrs. Kurt Riezler).
Art Institute of Chicago. "Cézanne: Paintings, Watercolors & Drawings," February 7–March 16, 1952, no. 33 (as "Fantastic Scene," lent by Dr. and Mrs. Kurt Riezler, New York).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cézanne: Paintings, Watercolors & Drawings," April 4–May 18, 1952, no. 33.
New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc. "Cézanne," November 5–December 5, 1959, no. 10 (as "Scène Fantastique," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Howard B. White).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 12–September 2, 1963, no. 4 (as "Fantastic Scene," lent anonymously).
Tokyo. National Museum of Western Art. "Exposition Cézanne," March 30–May 19, 1974, no. 9 (as "Les Pêcheurs—Journée de Juillet," lent by a private collection, Zürich).
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. "Exposition Cézanne," June 1–July 17, 1974, no. 9.
Cultural Center of Fukuoka. "Exposition Cézanne," July 24–August 18, 1974, no. 9.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886," January 17–April 6, 1986, no. 42 (as "Scène fantastique" or "Les pêcheurs," lent by a private collection).
San Francisco. M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. "The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886," April 19–July 6, 1986, no. 42.
Kunsthalle Tübingen. "Cezanne: Gemälde," January 16–May 2, 1993, no. 16 (as "Flußlandschaft mit Fischern," lent by a private collection, on permanent loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York).
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920," February 4–May 6, 2007, no. 73.
Berlin. Neue Nationalgalerie. "Französische Meisterwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts aus dem Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 1–October 7, 2007, unnumbered cat.
Hamburger Kunsthalle. "Max Liebermann: Wegbereiter der Moderne," September 30, 2011–February 19, 2012, no cat. number (ill. p. 57).
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. "Cézanne and the Past: Tradition and Creativity," October 25, 2012–February 17, 2013, no. 51.
Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "Paul Cézanne: Le Chant de la terre," June 16–November 19, 2017, no. 94 (as "Les Pêcheurs—Journée de juillet," left exhibition early).
Georges Rivière. "L'Exposition des impressionnistes." L'Impressionniste no. 2 (April 14, 1877) [reprinted in Ref. Berson 1996, vol. 1, p. 182], describes this painting hanging above a door in the second room at the 1877 Impressionist exhibition.
Hans Rosenhagen. "Von Ausstellungen und Sammlungen." Die Kunst für Alle 19 (June 1, 1904), p. 403, describes this picture in an exhibition at the Salon Paul Cassirer [Exh. Berlin 1904].
Julius Meier-Graefe. Modern Art, Being a Contribution to a New System of Aesthetics. London, 1908, vol. 1, ill. opp. p. 264 (woodcut), as " A Sunday in Summer (Dimanche d'été)," in the Hessel collection, Paris.
Emile Bernard. "Erinnerungen an Paul Cézanne." Kunst und Künstler 6 (September 3, 1908), ill. p. 524, as "Sommersonntag".
Max Liebermann. Letter to Gustav Pauli. January 27, 1909 [excerpt published in Ref. Krieger 1979, pp. 68–69; English transl. in Ref. Rewald 1975, p. 159], comments that this picture "ist vielleicht zu sehr Dekoration und etwas zu wenig Natur, fast venezianisch, aber es ist charmant und schlägt Alles andere tot" ["The picture may be too much decoration and not quite enough nature, almost Venetian, but it is charming and kills everything else"].
J[ohn]. S[chikowski]. "Kleines feuilleton: Kunst." Unterhaltungsblatt des Vorwärts no. 229 (November 25,1909), p. 916 [reprinted in Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011–16, vol. 4, p. 289], as “Sommer-Sonntag”.
Hans Rosenhagen. "Aus den Berliner Kunstsalons." Der Tag no. 284 (December 4, 1909) [see Echte and Feilchenfeldt 2011–16, vol. 4, p. 302], calls it “jener seltsame, die Farbenpracht und Üppigkeit eines strahlenden Sommertages auf einer kleinen Fläche wie in einem Fokus sammelnde ‘Sommersonntag’” [that strange "Summer Sunday" that collects the rich colors and exuberance of a radiant summer's day on a small surface as if in a camera lens (?)"].
Julius Meier-Graefe. Paul Cézanne. 3rd ed., rev. and enl. Munich, 1910, ill. p. 17, as "Ein Sommersonntag".
Cézanne. Paris, 1914, p. 63, pl. X, as "La Journée de juillet".
Ambroise Vollard. Paul Cézanne. [Eng. ed., 1923]. Paris, 1914, p. 34 n. 1, pl. 8, calls it "La Promenade" and dates it 1871.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Entwicklungsgeschichte der modernen Kunst. Vol. 3, 2nd ed. Munich, 1915, pp. 565–66, pl. 489, calls it "Sommertag" or "Promenade" and dates it 1871; discusses the abandonment of the baroque and influence of Pissarro and the other Impressionists in this picture.
Gustave Coquiot. Paul Cézanne. Paris, [1919], pp. 68, 211, 245, calls it "La Promenade" and dates it 1871.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Cézanne und sein Kreis: Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte. 3rd ed. [1st ed., 1918]. Munich, 1920, p. 74 n. 4, ill. opp. p. 96, calls it "L'Après midi bourgeoise (La Promenade)" in the text and "Sommertag" in the caption; considers it one of the most beautiful of Cézanne's river scenes.
Curt Glaser. Paul Cézanne. Leipzig, 1922, pl. 5, calls it "Sommertag" and dates it 1871.
Max J. Friedländer. "Über Paul Cézanne." Die Kunst für Alle 45 (February 1922), ill. opp. p. 136, calls it "Sonntag-Nachmittag".
Georges Rivière. Le Maître Paul Cézanne. Paris, 1923, pp. 199, 233, calls it "La Promenade" and dates it 1871.
Julius Meier-Graefe. Cézanne. London, 1927, pp. 25, 35–36, pl. XII.
Eugenio d'Ors. Paul Cézanne. Paris, 1930, pp. 62, 70, 74, calls it "Un jour d'été" and states that it was begun in the summer of 1871.
Rudolf Grossmann. "Liebermann as Collector." Formes no. 4 (April 1930), p. 18, ill. opp. p. 19, calls it "The June Day".
Walter Feilchenfeldt. Letter to Dr. Wartmann. May 2, 1933 [published in "Max Liebermann und die französischen Impressionisten," Düsseldorf, 1997, p. 239], lists it as "Junitag," among the pictures that Max Liebermann is leaving in Zurich for safe-keeping.
Paul Cassirer. Letter to Director Dr. [Wilhelm] Wartmann. May 2, 1933 [published in translation in Janda 2011], includes the picture in a list of fourteen paintings to be delivered the next day by Cassirer to the Kunsthaus Zürich for safekeeping for Max Liebermann; notes that the pictures are already insured for this purpose.
Lionello Venturi. "Cézanne." L'arte 6 (July 1935), pp. 323–24, fig. 11, calls it "Scena fantastica" and dates it 1877; locates it in the Kunsthaus Zurich; compares it to "The Temptation of Saint Anthony" (Stiftung Sammlung E. G. Bührle, Zurich; V103, R167).
Lionello Venturi. Cézanne: son art—son oeuvre. Paris, 1936, vol. 1, pp. 37–38, 119, 298, no. 243; vol. 2, pl. 65, no. 243, calls it "Scène fantastique" and dates it 1873–75; locates it as still in the Max Liebermann collection; identifies a pencil study for this picture (Adrien Chappuis, Tresserve; V1230, Chappuis 321).
René Huyghe. Cézanne. Paris, 1936, pp. 34, 53, fig. 17, calls it "L'après-midi d'été" and dates it about 1871; locates it in the Liebermann collection, Berlin; compares it to "Idylle" (about 1870; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; V104, R166), noting the similarity of the landscape and disposition of the figures, although the nudes have been replaced by contemporary figures in our picture.
Paul Cézanne. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Basel. Basel, 1936, p. 12, no. 12, dates it 1873–75.
R. H. Wilenski. Modern French Painters. New York, [1940], p. 39, lists this picture among those in the third room of the 1877 Impressionist exhibition [see Ref. Rivière 1877].
Erle Loran. Cézanne's Composition: Analysis of His Form with Diagrams and Photographs of His Motifs. [2nd ed., 1946]. Berkeley, 1943, p. 57.
Liliane Guerry. Cézanne et l'expression de l'espace. [1st ed.; 2nd ed., 1966]. Paris, 1950, p. 27, compares it to "Le Pêcheur à la ligne" (1868–70; present location unknown; V115, R162).
Theodore Reff. "Cézanne: The Enigma of the Nude." Art News 58 (November 1959), p. 29, ill., mentions its conflicting Impressionist and "visionary" qualities.
Theodore Reff. "Cézanne's Constructive Stroke." Art Quarterly 25 (Autumn 1962), pp. 220–21, 225 nn. 16–17, suggests that this picture may have been painted "well before" its exhibition in 1877 since it lacks the diagonal parallel brushstroke characteristic of Cézanne's style of the late 1870s; notes that all of the paintings exhibited in the 1877 Impressionist exhibition were signed in red, including this one.
Adrien Chappuis. Les dessins de Paul Cézanne au Cabinet des estampes du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bâle. Olten, Switzerland, 1962, vol. 1, pp. 15, 61, 118, fig. 27, compares the trees in this picture to those in the drawing "Quatre hommes assis sous un arbre" (1871–74; Kunstmuseum Basel; V1204, C256); identifies "Femme et fillette levant le bras" (about 1873; Kunstmuseum Basel; C320) as a study for our picture.
Kurt Badt. The Art of Cézanne. [German ed., 1956]. Berkeley, 1965, p. 191 n. 17, mentions it as one of the few early Cézanne landscapes depicting people or animals.
Wayne V. Andersen. "Cézanne, Tanguy, Chocquet." Art Bulletin 49 (June 1967), p. 137, compares it to the painting, "Apothéose de Delacroix" (1890–94; Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence; V245, R746); notes that a watercolor study for "Apothéose" (1878–80; private collection, London; V891, RWC 68) is based on our picture.
John Rewald. "Chocquet and Cézanne." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 74 (July–August 1969), pp. 47, 49, 75, 83, no. 22, fig. 9, calls it "Les pêcheurs" and dates it about 1875; compares the setting to a Monet Argenteuil landscape; tentatively agrees with Reff's [Ref. 1962] hypothesis that the works with red signatures were those shown in the 1877 Impressionist exhibition; theorizes that the selection of Cézanne's works for the exhibition was not finalized until the last minute, at which time Chocquet requested that the artist sign the canvases, thus explaining the use of the same color throughout; publishes an inventory of Madame Chocquet's collection, listing this picture as "Promeneurs au bord d'une rivière"; suggests that Hessel may have purchased it from the Chocquet sale as an agent for Liebermann [but see provenance].
Sandra Orienti inL'opera completa di Cézanne. [French ed., 1975; English ed., 1985]. Milan, 1970, pp. 98–99, no. 261, ill.
Wayne Andersen. Cézanne's Portrait Drawings. Cambridge, Mass., 1970, p. 138, identifies an additional drawing as a study for this painting (about 1873; Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam; V1218, C353).
Adrien Chappuis. The Drawings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné. Greenwich, Conn., 1973, vol. 1, pp. 117, 122.
Karl-Heinz Janda and Annegret Janda. "Max Liebermann als Kunstsammler." Forschungen und Berichte 15 (1973), pp. 106, 116, 122 n. 65, p. 123, no. 4, pl. 14, fig. 4, notes that this painting was one of the last to be acquired by Hugo von Tschudi for the Nationalgalerie, Berlin, but was returned to Cassirer shortly thereafter.
John Rewald. "Some Entries for a New Catalogue Raisonné of Cézanne's Paintings." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 86 (November 1975), pp. 158–59, ill., remarks that "Scène fantastique," the title frequently given to this picture, seems the least appropriate; argues that "Les pêcheurs," the title listed in Chocquet's sale, is preferable since Chocquet bought the picture directly from the artist; asserts that it is a continuation of Cézanne's earlier imaginary scenes, but that the previous emphasis on drama and mystery is replaced by serenity.
Peter Krieger inMax Liebermann in seiner Zeit. Exh. cat., Nationalgalerie Berlin. Berlin, 1979, pp. 63, 68–69, 71 n. 41, fig. 17.
John Rewald. Paul Cézanne: The Watercolors, A Catalogue Raisonné. Boston, 1983, p. 102, under no. 68, suggests that the watercolor "Apothéose de Delacroix" (1878–80; private collection, London) is based on this painting.
Richard R. Brettell inThe New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886. Ed. Charles S. Moffett. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington. San Francisco, 1986, pp. 195, 204, 213, no. 42, ill. (color), dates it about 1873.
Barbara Paul. "Drei Sammlungen französischer impressionister Kunst im kaiserlichen Berlin - Bernstein, Liebermann, Arnhold." Zeitschrift des Deutschen Vereins für Kunstwissenschaft 42 (1988), pp. 18, 28 n. 60, fig. 6.
Mary Tompkins Lewis. Cézanne's Early Imagery. Berkeley, 1989, pp. x, 204–5, 262 n. 21, colorpl. XVII, suggests that the woman holding a parasol in this picture was derived from the central figure in "La promenade" (1871; private collection, New York; V119, R153), a painting executed after a fashion plate; compares it to Seurat's La Grande Jatte paintings.
Christian Geelhaar in Mary Louise Krumrine. Paul Cézanne: The Bathers. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts. Basel, 1990, pp. 288, 294, fig. 230.
Mary Louise Krumrine. Paul Cézanne: The Bathers. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts. Basel, 1990, p. 244.
Götz Adriani. Cézanne: Gemälde. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Tübingen. Cologne, 1993, pp. 32, 70, 76, 82, 85–89, 108, 110, 117, 178, 295, 302, 309 n. 18, p. 310 n. 35, p. 311 n. 42, no. 16, ill. (color) [English ed., 1995], calls it "The Fishermen—July Day".
Barbara Paul. Hugo von Tschudi und die moderne französische Kunst im Deutschen Kaiserreich. Mainz, 1993, pp. 204, 385, no. 142, ill., dates it 1873–75.
John Rewald, in collaboration with Walter Feilchenfeldt, and Jayne Warman. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York, 1996, vol. 1, pp. 169–70, 197, 563, 566, 568–72, no. 237; vol. 2, p. 78, fig. 237, calls it "Les pêcheurs—Journée de juillet".
Ruth Berson, ed. "Documentation: Volume I, Reviews and Volume II, Exhibited Works." The New Painting: Impressionism 1874–1886. San Francisco, 1996, vol. 1, p. 182; vol. 2, p. 72, no. III-HC8, ill. p. 89 (reversed).
Gary Tinterow in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2001–2002." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 60 (Fall 2002), p. 31, ill. (color).
Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper. Christie's, London. June 26, 2003, p. 33, under no. 321.
Gary Tinterow inThe Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800–1920. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. New York, 2007, pp. 107, 184–85, no. 73, ill. (color and black and white).
R[ichard]. S[hone]. "Supplement: Acquisitions (2000–10) of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century French art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York." Burlington Magazine 152 (December 2010), p. 843, fig. XII (color).
Max Liebermann: Wegbereiter der Moderne. Ed. Robert Fleck. Exh. cat., Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn. Cologne, 2011, p. 217.
Robert Fleck inMax Liebermann: Wegbereiter der Moderne. Ed. Robert Fleck. Exh. cat., Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Cologne, 2011, p. 61, ill. p. 57 (color), mentions it as one of the two paintings by Cézanne in Max Liebermann's collection, calling it the finest art collection in Germany of the time.
Christina Dickel inMax Liebermann: Wegbereiter der Moderne. Ed. Robert Fleck. Exh. cat., Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn. Cologne, 2011, ill. p. 205 (in photograph of Liebermann at home).
Kunstsalon Cassirer. Ed. Bernhard Echte and Walter Feilchenfeldt. Wädenswil, Zürich, 2011–16, vol. 4, pp. 289, 302, 314, 483, ill. (color), as “Flußlandschaft mit Fischern (Sommersonntag)” and "Sommer-Sonntag"; republish Rosenhagen 1909 and Schikowski 1909.
Annegret Janda in "Max Liebermann's Art Collection: A Reconstruction from Letters and Documents." Max Liebermann and International Modernism: An Artist's Career from Empire to Third Reich. Ed. Marion Deshmukh, Françoise Forster-Hahn, and Barbara Gaehtgens. New York, 2011, p. 102, publishes Cassirer 1933 in translation, where the painting is called "June Day".
Zsuzsa Gonda inCézanne and the Past: Tradition and Creativity. Exh. cat., Szépmüvészeti Múzeum. Budapest, 2012, p. 260.
Linda Whiteley inCézanne and the Past: Tradition and Creativity. Exh. cat., Szépmüvészeti Múzeum. Budapest, 2012, pp. 146–47, reviews Rivière's (1877) discussion of the picture as linked to the transformative power of memory.
Ferenc Tóth inCézanne and the Past: Tradition and Creativity. Exh. cat., Szépmüvészeti Múzeum. Budapest, 2012, pp. 304–5, no. 51, ill. (color), compares it to Cézanne's drawing "Couple in a Garden" (ca. 1872, Albertina, Vienna); states that the artist conveys his detachment from the scene by presenting himself in near-silhouette at bottom left; discusses its alternate titles.
Martin Faass inVerlorene Schätze: Die Kunstsammlung von Max Liebermann. Ed. Martin Faass. Berlin, 2013, pp. 34, 38, fig. 15 (photograph of the painting hanging in Liebermann's music room), as "Sommersonntag" (Summer Sunday), discusses it among the artworks Max Liebermann placed in his music room.
Angelika Wesenberg inVerlorene Schätze: Die Kunstsammlung von Max Liebermann. Ed. Martin Faass. Berlin, 2013, pp. 48–49, fig. 29 (color), as "Sommersonntag" (Summer Sunday), discusses the dark figure strolling with a stick at left as a flâneur figure standing in for Cézanne himself.
Karl-Heinz Janda, Annegret Janda, and Monika Tatzkow inVerlorene Schätze: Die Kunstsammlung von Max Liebermann. Ed. Martin Faass. Berlin, 2013, pp. 112–13, no. 11, ill. (color), quote Max Liebermann's letter of January 27, 1909, to Gustav Pauli, then Director of the Bremer Kunsthalle, with regard to it as well as Pauli's own letter about it from June 12, 1923; state that it was among the works on deposit in the Liebermann/Riezler Depot at the Kunsthaus Zürich from May 9, 1933 through October 19, 1936 under the title "Freitag/Junitag" (Friday/June Day).
Verlorene Schätze: Die Kunstsammlung von Max Liebermann. Ed. Martin Faass. Berlin, 2013, pp. 253–55, 267–68, ill. (diagrams of three photographs identifying pictures hanging in Liebermann's music room), reproduces a list of works dated November 17, 1918 (fig. 70), for which Max Liebermann sought safekeeping in the National Gallery of Germany from November 1918 through April 1919, among which it appears as no. 6 "Cezanne Julitag" (Cézanne, July Day); reproduces a letter from Walter Feilchenfeldt to Wilhelm Wartmann, then Director of the Kunsthaus Zürich, from May 2, 1933 (fig. 71), with respect to the storage of fourteen paintings from the Liebermann collection, including this one as no. 7 "Cézanne, Junitag" (Cézanne, June Day); reproduces the deposit book for the paintings from the Kunsthaus Zürich (fig. 72), which includes it as "Cézanne Freitag" (Cézanne Friday).
Monika Tatzkow and Georg Graf zu Castell-Castell inVerlorene Schätze: Die Kunstsammlung von Max Liebermann. Ed. Martin Faass. Berlin, 2013, fig. 58 (photograph of the painting hanging in Liebermann's music room).
Bärbel Hedinger inMax Liebermann: Die Kunstsammlung, von Rembrandt bis Manet. Ed. Bärbel Hedinger et al. Munich, 2013, pp. 20–21, 26, 34, 38 n. 106, fig. 11 on p. 26 (reproduced in photograph of Liebermann's music room from 1925), quotes Max Liebermann's letter to Gustav Pauli stating it has "zu sehr Dekoration und zu wenig Natur" (too much decoration and too little nature) but notes that Liebermann still purchased the painting and gave it pride of place in his collection; discusses Liebermann's purchase of the painting.
Christina Feilchenfeldt inMax Liebermann: Die Kunstsammlung, von Rembrandt bis Manet. Ed. Bärbel Hedinger et al. Munich, 2013, pp. 120, 122, calls it "Sommertag" (Summer Day) and notes that it was one of two works by Cézanne in Liebermann's collection; quotes Liebermann's letter to Gustav Pauli from January 27, 1909, in which he calls it "fast venezianisch, aber es ist charmant und schlägt alles andere tot" (almost Venetian, but it is charming and beats anything dead); reproduces a page from the Kunsthaus Zürich's deposit book from May 1933 that lists the work as "2. Cezanne Freitag" (2. Cézanne Friday).
Herbert Butz inMax Liebermann: Die Kunstsammlung, von Rembrandt bis Manet. Ed. Bärbel Hedinger et al. Munich, 2013, p. 62.
Teresa Ende inMax Liebermann: Die Kunstsammlung, von Rembrandt bis Manet. Ed. Bärbel Hedinger et al. Munich, 2013, fig. 2 on p. 96 (photograph from 1925 that includes it in Liebermann's music room).
Max Liebermann: Die Kunstsammlung, von Rembrandt bis Manet. Ed. Bärbel Hedinger et al. Munich, 2013, pp. 178, 181, 184, 193, 196, 205, 207, 295, no. SL12, ill. pp. 130–31, 139 (photographs of the painting hanging in Liebermann's music room), 138 (color), 241 (color), 255 (color), quote Liebermann 1909; quote Liebermann letter to Max Lehrs from November 19, 1918, regarding twenty paintings in his collection (including this one) for which he sought safekeeping in wartime; quote letter from Liebermann to Adolf Jöhr from April 27, 1933, stating that he had decided to exhibit his paintings (including this one) at the Kunsthaus Zürich; reproduce same list of works Liebermann placed on deposit in National Gallery from November 17, 1918, and Feilchenfeldt letter to Wartmann 1933 as in Faass, ed. 2013, where it appears as "Julitag" (July Day) and "7. Cézanne, Junitag" (7. Cézanne, June Day), respectively; provide a concordance listing it as both SL12 and Janda 4.
Jean Colrat. Cézanne: Joindre les mains errantes de la nature. Paris, 2013, pp. 151, 219–20, 367, fig. 51 (color), incorrectly identifies it as in a private collection; discusses its compositional structure, including an "echo" of Delacroix's "Death of Sardanapalus" (1827, Musée du Louvre, Paris).
André Dombrowski. Cézanne, Murder, and Modern Life. Berkeley, 2013, pp. 241, 243–244, fig. 99, argues that its exhibition in 1877 reflected Cézanne’s “change in tactics” with respect to his newly public audience; contrasts its reception in 1877 to the tenor of criticism in 1874, arguing critics began to recognize greater intention and control within Cézanne’s “anxious painterliness” instead of seeing only his perturbed self-reflexivity.
Walter Feilchenfeldt, Jayne Warman, and David Nash. The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. 2014–?, no. 634, ill. (color) [https://www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=241], as “Les Pêcheurs – Journée de juillet”.
Anne Distel inVictor Chocquet, Freund und Sammler der Impressionisten: Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Manet. Ed. Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice. Exh. cat., Sammlung Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz," Winterthur. Munich, 2015, pp. 58, 76 n. 111, p. 205, ill., and fig. 36 (color), as "Les Pêcheurs—Journée de juillet" (The Fishermen—July Day); identifies it as the painting of "promeneurs au bord d'une rivière" (strollers along the river), one of three unframed canvases by Cézanne that were included in the 1899 inventory of Chocquet's house at 7, rue Monsigny, Paris, taken after his wife's death.
Jayne Warman inVictor Chocquet, Freund und Sammler der Impressionisten: Renoir, Cézanne, Monet, Manet. Ed. Mariantonia Reinhard-Felice. Exh. cat., Sammlung Oskar Reinhart "Am Römerholz," Winterthur. Munich, 2015, pp. 100, 110 nn. 13, 16.
Daniel Marchesseau inPaul Cezanne: Le chant de la terre. Ed. Daniel Marchesseau. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2017, pp. 296, 344–45, no. 94, ill. p. 297 (color), as "Les Pêcheurs - Journée de juillet" (Fishermen - July Day); notes that the two standing women at left recall the two models of "La Conversation" (1870–71), private collection).
Richard Kendall inCézanne: Metamorphoses. Ed. Alexander Eiling. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, 2017, pp. 133–34, confuses the criticism of the picture at Paris 1877 for that regarding one of Cézanne's "Bathers" (no. 26: "Les baigneurs; Etude, projet de tableau") (see Berson 1996).
Tessa Rosebrock inCézanne: Metamorphoses. Ed. Alexander Eiling. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, 2017, p. 139, recounts tensions over the picture between Tschudi and Wilhelm II in 1908.
Alexander Eiling inCézanne: Metamorphoses. Ed. Alexander Eiling. Exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe, 2017, pp. 161–62, 170–73 n.6, no. 12, ill. (color), fig. 1 (photograph of Villa Liebermann music room), notes that it repeats the structure of his "Pastoral (Idyll)" (1870, Musée d'Orsay, Paris); states that the fashionable women in beige and blue further develop the artist's painted copies of etchings from the fashion magazine "La Mode illustré"; notes that "(Fantastic Scene)" was not added to the title until the 1930s and lists several alternate titles given to it over the years; cites Watteau's "Pilgrimage to Cythera" (1717, Musée du Louvre, Paris) and Manet's "Fishing" (ca. 1862–63, The Met, 57.10) as possible inspirational sources.
Victor Claass inManet/Degas. Ed. Laurence des Cars, Stéphane Guégan, and Isolde Pludermacher. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 2023, fig. 167 (in photograph of Liebermann home, Berlin).
Three studies exist for this work: Scène fantastique (V1230, Chappuis 1973, no. 321; collection Adrien Chappuis, Tresserve), Femme et fillette levant le bras (Venturi 1936, vol. 1, p. 351, C320; Kunstmuseum, Basel), and the crouching figure in the lower left of a page of studies (V1218, C353; Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam). The figure in the lower left holding a walking stick is seen again in the watercolor Apothéose de Delacroix (V891, Rewald 1983, no. 68; private collection, London).
Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence)
1878–80
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