Study of a Nude Figure c. 1885

Editor: Here we have Cézanne’s "Study of a Nude Figure," a drawing with such vulnerability and directness. The figure feels so present and yet so distant. What strikes you when you look at this piece? Curator: Ah, Cézanne. This drawing hums with a quiet tension, doesn't it? I see a mind grappling with form, not just recording it. Notice how he uses those deliberate, hatched lines, building up the figure like a mason lays bricks. It’s like he’s asking, "What IS a body, really?" How do we know it? What about you? Editor: That idea of building up the figure… I see that now. Curator: It’s as if Cézanne wants us to question our own ways of seeing. He really makes us wonder. Editor: I appreciate how you brought to my attention those hatched lines as a method of construction. Thanks for illuminating this work.