The Smoker 1890

Editor: This is "The Smoker," an oil painting by Paul Cézanne, created around 1890. I’m immediately struck by the almost geometric forms that make up the man's figure. How do you approach interpreting a work like this? Curator: Primarily, I focus on the formal elements. Notice the arrangement of shapes and colours, creating balance through asymmetry. The impasto technique, especially evident in the drapery, disrupts surface continuity. Observe the tonal shifts within the man’s jacket; do they describe volume, or merely delineate planar relationships? Editor: I see what you mean. The colors, although muted, define the figure. Are the bottles and fruit arranged to support a balance of line or colour? Is it a kind of repoussoir, maybe, but less obvious? Curator: Precisely! Cézanne employs these objects strategically. The verticality of the bottles contrasts with the circular forms of the fruit and the figure’s hat. The diagonal thrust of the arm establishes a directional tension within the frame, counteracted by the opposing angle of the pipe. The image holds multiple tensions of geometric structure, formal planes, colour, and shade. Editor: So, while the subject is representational, the emphasis really is on the pure mechanics of composition, balancing the subject, colours, shapes, texture, and visual planes to engage and hold the viewer’s interest. Curator: Indeed. Cézanne subverts the illusionism traditionally associated with portraiture, drawing attention to the artwork as a constructed object, an object, an exercise of formal mechanics and structural arrangements of lines, colours, and shapes. The emotional landscape recedes; what remains is structure. Editor: Fascinating. I see the painting so differently now, recognizing how form and structure are foregrounded over narrative. It's more than just a smoker; it's an exercise in geometric form and visual balance.