Baigneuses

The subject of 'les baigneuses' is inextricably linked to Cézanne's major reputation as an artist and was a recurring theme from 1870 until his death in 1907. Cézanne completed almost 200 oils, watercolours, pencil sketches and prints on this theme. At the turn of the century, most of the critics and general public were unwilling or unable to understand Cézanne's revolutionary treatment of the human figure in nature. There were however also a few astute collectors, many of them artists themselves, who saw the importance of these paintings and quickly bought them up (often very cheaply) on the rare occasions when they became available. Caillebotte purchased Baigneurs au repos (Venturi 276), Pissarro and Renoir, who often painted with Cézanne, owned nearly identical versions of La lutte d'amour (Venturi 379,380). A painting of Les Baigneurs aux bras écartés (Venturi 544) from around 1883 was in Degas' collection, and Monet and Denis owned similar canvases of Baigneuses (Venturi 581,585).

The present work belongs to a group of oil sketches Cézanne executed around 1902-6 and can be linked to The Grandes Baigneuses (Venturi 721) housed in the National Gallery, London (Inv. no. 6359). The latter was to have a major impact on the future of Modern art.