Paul Cézanne: The Bathers

The Bathers is the largest of Cezanne’s pictures. This work is characterized by a marked symmetry and adaptation of the nude forms to the triangular pattern of the trees and river. There is here, a search for constraining forms, an over-determined order which has to do with Cezanne’s anxiety about women. Beautiful as it is, the composition is not the typical Renaissance pyramid; the central part, which is usually filled by a dominant object, is empty or unstressed, and the apex is intercepted by the frame. The triangle here is a form of constraint, with another expression than the older solemn design. This masterpiece is located in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.