Still-Life with Apples and Oranges

Still-lifes provided C�zanne an opportunity to paint things in accordance with his conception of form, and he could subject them to lengthier scrutiny than he could human sitters. In still-lifes he could explore ways of establishing visual harmony and three-dimensionality more thoroughly.

In the latter half of the 1890s C�zanne increasingly did more opulent, spatially more dynamic, indeed baroque compositions. These pictures are far removed from the straight representation of a laid table. No one would pile crockery, fruit, a brocade drape and a crumpled tablecloth on a chest in this way. This is painting for its own sake, with its own rules.