Beautiful show is worth the money
We managed to book tickets for this stupendous show the day before our visit. Tickets costing £22 each may have something to do with it, but that’s average nowadays. On arrival at Tate Modern, we followed the signs to enter the Turbine Hall and then descend to basement level. There was no search or checking of bookings to enter as had happened to me 6 months ago. This route takes you passed the cloakroom, which we regretted not using, as it was extremely hot in the exhibition space on level 3.
The crowds were heavy but bearable. You just had to wait a minute or two and the groups would move off and you generally could have the painting to yourself. This was a top class show, the text at the entrance to each room was informative, as were the labels besides many of the 60 or so pictures. They included quotes from contemporaries of Cezanne, and comments from those who had owned the pictures. The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke was quoted several times, as was Picasso, Monet and various others. These quotes were often fascinating. One relating to the picture of his mother spoke of the movements he perceived, but left me baffled. Another related how Monet had taken encouragement from the picture, during a 35 year period of ownership. These quotes were deeply pretentious on the whole, but they still pointed to ways of relating to a picture which is different to one's own. In this respect they are valuable.
The paintings were organized in thematic rooms, as the career
progressed from 1860 when Cezanne moved to Paris to join his boyhood friend
Zola. Cezanne soon fell in with with the Impressionists who were a laughing
stock for much of their early years. Cezanne got hammered in the press like the rest, and it
took years before he finally had a painting accepted by the salon. Despite admiration from famous contemporaries, it wasn’t until Vollard put on a
show in 1895 that his fortunes finally began to turn. In the meantime he had to
hide a relationship and marriage and child from his father, on whose monthly allowance he relied.
The paintings are utterly beautiful. Being surrounded by so many Cezannes increased the power and gorgeous colours he used in his unequalled still lifes, landscapes and unique portraits. The landscapes never have people in them, but still manage to convey the atmosphere of heat on the rocks, trees on looking at Mont Ste Victoire, and water at L’Estaque, a fishing village near Marseille he frequently spent time at.
Seeing these lovely pictures up close, the influence of Van Gogh became clear, as the quick dabs of the brush showed the confidence he must have felt as time went by. There is a strange, artificial quality to much of the work. Perspective is frequently flattened. The blocky style of some of the later work showed he was progressing in ambition, to portray something that was not just an image of what he could see. The group of Still Lifes with apples, water jug, ginger pot were the same objects from different angles. The rooftops were equally stunning. One room is dedicated to The Bathers series which increased his reputation. "The Eternal Feminine" is a curious picture, which appears to be a making a point about men lusting . A nude is surrounded by men from different ends of the social spectrum, all focusing on the red eyed woman in the centre. "The Gardener Vallier" is another image not appearing to follow the usual style or deep colour palate of his most striking paintings, but the accompanying text includes a quote which places it at the peak of Cezanne's oeuvre.
This is a
must see show. The panels showing his sketch books, letters, and another with
materials like watercolour sets, all added to the experience. If I gave marks,
this show would get Full.
