Still Life with Jar, Cup, and Apples

Still Life with Jar, Cup, and Apples by Paul Cézanne is an iconic oil on canvas painting created during the fertile and experimental decade spanning 1872 to 1882. This extended dating reflects Cézanne's intense period of transition following his initial exposure to Impressionism, where he began developing the methodical approach to form that would characterize Post-Impressionism.

Cézanne utilized the still life genre throughout his career as a fundamental means of exploring visual structure. In this composition, he systematically arranges humble domestic objects, including simple ceramic jars and cups, positioned alongside the celebrated fruit which became synonymous with his work: the apples. These everyday subjects are transformed through the artist's revolutionary technique. Rather than pursuing meticulous illusionism, Cézanne emphasizes the geometric foundations of the forms, treating the objects as combinations of cylinders, spheres, and planes.

The technique visible on the canvas uses modulated patches of color to define volume and light, giving the arrangement an enduring structural density. The forms appear simultaneously solid and subtly displaced, reflecting Cézanne’s deliberate challenge to conventional single-point perspective. This early work laid crucial groundwork for modern art, directly influencing the development of movements like Cubism in the early twentieth century.

Classified as a pivotal masterwork of modern painting, the canvas resides in the distinguished permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Because of the painting's age and historical importance, high-quality prints and related imagery are often made available through public domain archives, allowing broad access to the work of this foundational modern artist.