Still life with seven apples 1878

Editor: Today we’re looking at Paul Cézanne's "Still Life with Seven Apples" from 1878, rendered in oil paint. The immediate impression I get is one of controlled chaos, with its deliberate brushstrokes and almost skewed perspective. How would you interpret this work through a formal lens? Curator: Indeed. Focusing purely on form, one notes Cézanne's masterful manipulation of colour and shape to subvert traditional still life conventions. Consider how the apples' forms aren't merely representational, but are built up through planes of colour, pushing against the picture plane itself. Editor: So it's not just about depicting apples realistically, but more about exploring their shape and colour through paint? Curator: Precisely. Look at the relationships between the colors: the interplay of greens, reds, and yellows doesn't mimic reality so much as construct a new reality specific to the canvas. Are you struck by anything regarding the composition? Editor: The table seems tilted forward, and the apples appear almost to roll towards us. Is he disrupting perspective on purpose? Curator: Absolutely. Cézanne is actively deconstructing traditional perspective, flattening the space, to draw our attention to the formal qualities of the painting. He manipulates space to emphasize the two-dimensionality of the canvas itself. Editor: I see. So, by breaking these rules, he's making us more aware of the artifice of painting itself. Curator: Correct. He's liberating painting from mere imitation. And look closely at the brushwork. It's not blended, but applied in distinct touches of pigment. Editor: This close analysis reveals so much. I went in expecting a simple still life but can appreciate the layers of formal complexity at play here. Curator: It's precisely this dedication to the materiality and structural composition that made Cézanne such a pivotal figure for subsequent movements like Cubism.