Bathers, Paul Cézanne, 1874- 75
Podcast by Egile Rad
Podcast Transcription:
When approaching works in galleries, most of us follow similar patterns of analysis. We are
attracted to familiar shapes and palettes and recognizable settings. But what if there are
paintings that lure us in, much like some sort of flytrap, appearing familiar with clear
imagery, but upon closer look, aren’t really what they seem to be. Paul Cézanne’s painting,
Bathers, 1874 through 1875 is just that. Set somewhere in the French Provence, a region full
of rivers and coastal beauty, as well as Cézanne’s home turf, is not only a challenge to the
then dominant academic tradition of realistic figure depictions, but also a monumental
impressionist work that would reshape modern art.
At first glance, the scene appears deceptively simple: figures by a river, a timeless subject
that artists had painted for centuries. But the interpretation that Cézanne depicts disrupts
our expectations, creating a visual tension that forces us to reconsider how we look at the
human form. The six feminine figures, positioned by the flowing river, resist the classical
ideals of beauty and grace. Instead, they stand with an almost architectural stiffness, their
bodies reduced to simplified shapes that hover between real representation and abstraction.
This departure from tradition becomes even more pronounced when compared to his
contemporaries. While artists like Renoir and Degas made their own, naturalistic bather
scenes, Cézanne’s approach deliberately challenged the traditional bather motif – a subject
that, since the Renaissance, had been used to represent the ideals of female beauty.
In the version that Cézanne presents, the bathers’ androgynous form stems from a deeper
personal context. Art historians often recount how the artist, intensely uncomfortable with
female models, would flee his studio when they arrived for painting sessions. His notorious
unease with the female form manifests clearly in his work, creating this uncanny effect
where the figures appear both human and somehow as another form completely. Even
looking at their faces, we notice that they are barely detailed and represented mainly
through shadows, denying us the comfort of getting to know their individual identities.
He achieves this by a variety of technical choices that intensify this sense of awkwardness.
Primarily utilizing a singular, relatively thin flathead brush with varied strokes, he creates
thick, irregular textures throughout the canvas. The brushwork doesn’t try to hide itself –
instead, it becomes an essential element of the composition, and each stroke is visible and
purposeful. The color palette further transforms the scene. Instead of the warm, inviting
tones typically associated with figures in nature, Cézanne opts for a cold palette where
blues and greens dominate. This creates what could be described as a ‘scene of nature’
rather than an interaction of a traditional figure study and some sort of surrounding
environment; nature completely dominates the image. The color interaction between these
cool tones helps establish the painting’s unique atmosphere while contributing to the
figures’ ethereal being; with them blending in, yet in their sturdy form, establishing their
presence.
When looking at the composition as a whole, we are almost transported directly into the
scene. The moment depicted exists as a paradox, evoking feelings of both the immediate
happening and timelessness; as if some imaginary situation happened to be suspended in
time and put into one’s memory. Cézanne’s Bathers are monumental, in that its visual
language is able to transfigure reality through its distinct choices of depiction.
What makes this painting particularly revolutionary is how it bridges different artistic
movements. While rooted in Impressionism through its attention to light and atmosphere, it
points forward to Cubism through its simplified forms and geometric tendencies. We may
even observe that the awkwardness of the figures isn’t necessarily a flaw but a choice that
helps establish what would become a new visual language in modern art. Cézanne wasn’t
showing us his limitations as an artist – he was showing us the future.
These stiff, simplified figures, with their geometric forms and ambiguous features, become
essential phrases in the vocabulary of modern art. Through recontextualizing the human
figure, Cézanne achieved something profound: he showed us that beauty in art doesn’t lie in
perfection, but in our interpretations of the world and how we see it.
Reference List:
Danchev, Alex. Cézanne: A Life. Pantheon Books, 2012.
Reff, Theodore, and Innis Howe Shoemaker. Paul Cézanne: Two Sketchbooks. Philadelphia
Museum of Art, 1989.
Krumrine, Mary Louise. Paul Cézanne: The Bathers. Thames & Hudson, 1990.
