Potted Plants 1890

Paul Cézanne, working in France in the late 19th and early 20th century, made this painting with oil on canvas. Cézanne, like many artists of his time, embraced the readily available, industrially produced paints that came in tubes, a departure from grinding and mixing pigments by hand. Here, we see a still life, yet Cézanne renders the potted plants with a sensitivity to volume and form, as if he were building a sculpture. Look at the way he layers brushstrokes to create depth and texture, the greens of the plants contrast with the muted tones of the ceramic pots, emphasizing their handcrafted nature. His approach blurs the boundaries between painting and sculpting, elevating everyday objects, the ceramic pots, to a subject worthy of artistic exploration. By embracing industrial materials while celebrating traditional crafts, Cézanne challenges traditional notions of what constitutes high art, inviting us to find beauty and meaning in the ordinary.