Paul Cezanne - French artist, who managed to build a bridge between 19th-century impressionism and 20th-century cubism. One of his best works is considered to be “Card Players,” which, more than a century later, captivate art connoisseurs and set records at auctions.
1. Cezanne created several versions of "The Card Players"
Created between 1890 and 1895, the quintet of oil paintings are considered cornerstone the so-called "final period" of Cézanne's work, during which the artist created some of his most famous works.
2. The sizes of the paintings vary greatly
The dimensions of the canvases are from 47 x 56.5 cm to 134.6 x 180.3 cm.
3. In the picture, the game is not for money
None of the five paintings show any money on the table. It has been suggested that the calm faces of the players, coupled with the lack of money being wagered, may be evidence that people are playing, perhaps something similar to gin.
4. "Card Players" are scattered all over the world today
Although sometimes five paintings are brought to one place for participation in various exhibitions, one of them is permanently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the second is in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, the third is in the Cutro Institute of Art in London, and the fourth is in the Orsay Museum in Paris, and the latter is in family collection Emir of Qatar.
5. One of the paintings was sold for a record amount
In 2011, the Qatari royal family paid Greek tycoon George Embirikos a record sum of more than $250 million for one of the films "The Players."
6. Which of the "Players" are the most expensive?
Since the deal between Embiricos and the Qatari royal family was private, the exact price paid for The Card Players is unknown. As a rule, it is believed that the painting was sold for an amount of $250 to $300 million. However, Paul Gauguin's painting "Nafea faa ipoipo?" can compete in price. (“When is the wedding?”), which was sold in February 2015 for approximately $300 million.
7. The exact chronology of the creation of 5 paintings of “Card Players” is unknown
Art historians have long believed that Cézanne's series of five paintings was created in decreasing order - that is, the number of players was reduced (from five to two), as well as the size of the paintings. However, evidence from infrared scans of the paintings has cast doubt on this generally accepted theory. It is quite possible that Cezanne, on the contrary, started with smaller paintings, complicating them.
8. Cezanne took models, as they say, “at hand”
The people who posed for The Players were villagers, and some of them worked on Cezanne's estate.
9. Before creating a painting, Cezanne carefully planned it.
During the five years that the artist painted The Card Players, Cézanne created about a dozen sketches and painted several portraits of characters from the paintings for practice. He sat the farmhands in different positions many times and experimented with how the canvas would look from different angles.
10. Cezanne may have painted a painting based on a local cafe
Since the artist carefully planned each painting, art historians have a logical assumption that all the sketches and early portraits he did it at a local cafe. The artist then used these sketches instead of live models to create the final paintings. This theory is confirmed by infrared scanning, which showed that many corrected sketches are hidden under a layer of paint.
11. “The Card Players” challenged the emotional conventions of such scenes.
Similar scenarios occurred repeatedly in the 17th century in Dutch and French painting. But they depicted drunken buffoons, fights and unbridled behavior during card games. Cezanne remained true to his style of restraint in emotions.
12. One of the paintings was stolen
The Card Players, during an exhibition in Paris in 1961, was stolen directly from the museum along with some other paintings. Detailed information regarding their return is unclear: some sources say that the paintings were returned several months later after a ransom was paid, while others claim that all the paintings were found a year later in Marseille in an abandoned car.
13. A postage stamp was issued in France to commemorate the robbery.
To show the tragedy of the possible loss of the painting "Card Players" for France, a special postage stamp, dedicated to the theft of paintings.
14. Cézanne's "Card Players" was inspired by a visit to a museum.
A 17th-century painting by Louis Le Nain, also called The Card Players, was exhibited at the city museum ( Art Museum Granier) during Cezanne's stay in this city. It is believed that the Baroque painting of men playing cards became the artist's muse.
15. Cezanne's paintings inspired Dogs Playing Poker
Cezanne's "Card Players" inspired the American artist Cassius Marcellus Coolidge to create a series of paintings called "Dogs Playing Poker."
"... 1889. Even in his youth, visiting the Eck Museum, Cezanne often stopped at the painting “Card Players,” attributed to Louis Le Nain. It seemed that the painting was no different from the others, but Cezanne always looked at it with envy. "Here That’s how I’d like to write!” he exclaims.
As soon as he arrived in Jas, Cezanne, rejoicing at returning to Aix, decided to fulfill his long-cherished dream - to paint a genre picture of this kind. He knows all the difficulties of the task facing him. He knows very well that there is no question of preserving the rather formulaic and inexpressive composition of the museum painting. And with many precautions he gets to work. Peasants will serve as his models. Cézanne liked their restraint, sedateness, and tendency to long thoughts. More than any other artist, Cézanne is close to these seemingly simple and at the same time complex people, whom townspeople usually judge very superficially.
Cézanne lovingly accepted the sketches of his future players. He needs to get his hand in. There is no need to look for models somewhere far away: these are mostly peasants from a farm in Zha, especially one of them, the gardener Pole, whom everyone around him calls Father Alexander. The patience of the peasants and their ability to pose silently and motionlessly for long hours amaze the artist. He lights up, he is “lively and active.”
For a painting "Card Players" Cezanne chose an almost two-meter canvas. He paints five figures: three playing cards, two watching the game. A monumental canvas characterized by a powerful rhythm. Will it satisfy the artist's intentions? Is there some heaviness in the intended arrangement of the figures? Is the picture cluttered with minor details? Are the color combinations too harsh and contrasting, are they nuanced enough? In other words, is the canvas not devoid of that wonderful simplicity, full of inner richness, which marks the true mastery of great works of art?
Cezanne begins again. Moves to smaller canvases. Reduces the number of figures to four and finally to two. He eliminates everything that is not of paramount importance in everything: in line, in colors, in the architectonics of the ensemble - he strives for rigor and subtlety, which, once achieved, seem unusually easy, but are given only at the cost of labor, enormous patience and persistent searches.
And again Cézanne begins again and again, endlessly reworking, striving to move even further, to rise even higher in his insatiable thirst for perfection... (Five versions of the painting “The Card Players” have survived: two in France, two in the UK and two in the USA) ..."
***
From the afterword by K. Bohemskaya:
"...In the picture "Card Players", owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the furnishings are described laconically and, most likely, are composed of what constantly served the artist in his studio - a table with a drawer, drapery. The theme of a card game is traditional in fine art, and it is possible that Cézanne was reminded of it by the painting attributed to Mathieu Le Nain from the Granet Museum in Aix.
I would not like to call Cezanne’s painting a genre painting, since its content is so higher and more significant than the depiction of an everyday scene in a tavern could be. But expressing this content in words is as difficult as telling a melody. We can only name the instruments on which it is performed. During the period when Cézanne was considered solely as the herald of the era of cubism, “the cylinder, the ball and the cone,” the authors who wrote about him argued that he depicted people, like objects in a still life, without spirituality. Now opinions have changed, they recall the words of the artist when, once pointing to the old innkeeper, he exclaimed: “What a style!” Imagining Cezanne as a man absorbed in enormous inner work, striving for spiritual perfection, it is impossible to believe that he could treat people with indifference and disrespect. Yes, he places them at the table just as thoughtfully and, probably, based on the same goals as when he lays out peaches and pears on the same table. But Cezanne values life as being; he wants to convey in his works what constitutes the very essence of this being - movement, peace, concentration, tension. Easel paintings, which trace their origins to altar images and require a special spiritual mood to comprehend their emanation, are created by Cézanne at a time when painting is going through a crisis, ready to turn into a panel, screen, fan, merge with the interior and lose its high purpose. The 1890s were the heyday of the Art Nouveau style ("Art Nouveau") in France; decorative trends prevailed in the work of many artists at this time. Art Nouveau was not only a formal stylistic movement, it brought with it an aestheticized worldview and a widespread arsenal of symbols and archetypes.
Cezanne's work remained unaffected by the style that dominated at the turn of the century; it affirmed the eternity and inviolability of the laws of painting, the inner dignity of man living in peace with all of nature.
“Here are the people,” Cezanne seems to be saying with his painting “Card Players.” And that's enough; he doesn't want to develop the story any further. He pictures them playing cards because the game forces them to concentrate, to sit still. The game is a form of their social behavior, something that unites them. Three are sitting at the table in identical poses, the fourth is standing with a pipe in his mouth, but also looking at cards. He wears a bright red scarf around his neck, the same color as the cards in the center of the table. The Table and the Wall are painted in the same iridescent blue tone. The symmetry of the left and right figures, slightly broken, serves to complete and enclose the scene.
There are three more believed to be later variants "Card Players", where only two players are shown sitting opposite each other. Small studies with individual characters are known, this suggests that all or almost all of them had specific prototypes. Kept in the Hermitage and the Museum fine arts named after A.S. Pushkin with the image of one person - "Smoker" and “Man with a Pipe” are close in spirit to “The Players”.
These are also images in which Cezanne seeks to recreate the ongoing existence of man. He depicts both men in almost the same pose - with their heads propped up on their hands, their elbows leaning on the table. The inclination of the figure, the peace and tension of its individual parts immediately determine all the other lines and shapes in the picture. Space is curved, right angles are distorted under the influence of the pressure with which the artist introduces a living, three-dimensional human figure into the plane of the picture. The effort put into completing this task will be revealed to the attentive viewer, making him feel the tension creative work and the strength of the artist's temperament..."
Based on the book:
A. Perryucho "The Life of Cezanne" and afterwords by K. Bohemian. - M.: "Rainbow", 1991. - 351 p.
Paul Cézanne is a French artist who managed to build a bridge between 19th century impressionism and 20th century cubism. One of his best works is considered to be “Card Players,” which, more than a century later, captivate art connoisseurs and set records at auctions.
1. Cezanne created several versions of "The Card Players"
Created between 1890 and 1895, the quintet of oil paintings are considered the cornerstone of Cézanne's so-called "final period", during which the artist created some of his most famous works.
2. The sizes of the paintings vary greatly
The dimensions of the canvases are from 47 x 56.5 cm to 134.6 x 180.3 cm.
3. In the picture, the game is not for money
None of the five paintings show any money on the table. It has been suggested that the calm faces of the players, coupled with the lack of money being wagered, may be evidence that people are playing, perhaps something similar to gin.
4. "Card Players" are scattered all over the world today
Although sometimes five paintings are brought to one place for participation in various exhibitions, one of them is permanently in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the second is in the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, the third is in the Cutro Institute of Art in London, the fourth is in the Orsay Museum in Paris, and the latter is in the family collection of the Emir of Qatar.
5. One of the paintings was sold for a record amount
In 2011, the Qatari royal family paid Greek tycoon George Embirikos a record sum of more than $250 million for one of the films "The Players."
6. Which of the "Players" are the most expensive?
Since the deal between Embiricos and the Qatari royal family was private, the exact price paid for The Card Players is unknown. As a rule, it is believed that the painting was sold for an amount of $250 to $300 million. However, Paul Gauguin's painting "Nafea faa ipoipo?" can compete in price. (“When is the wedding?”), which was sold in February 2015 for approximately $300 million.
7. The exact chronology of the creation of 5 paintings of “Card Players” is unknown
Art historians have long believed that Cézanne's series of five paintings was created in decreasing order - that is, the number of players was reduced (from five to two), as well as the size of the paintings. However, evidence from infrared scans of the paintings has cast doubt on this generally accepted theory. It is quite possible that Cezanne, on the contrary, started with smaller paintings, complicating them.
8. Cezanne took models, as they say, “at hand”
The people who posed for The Players were villagers, and some of them worked on Cezanne's estate.
9. Before creating a painting, Cezanne carefully planned it.
During the five years that the artist painted The Card Players, Cézanne created about a dozen sketches and painted several portraits of characters from the paintings for practice. He sat the farmhands in different positions many times and experimented with how the canvas would look from different angles.
10. Cezanne may have painted a painting based on a local cafe
Since the artist carefully planned each painting, art historians have a logical assumption that he did all the sketches and early portraits in a local cafe. The artist then used these sketches instead of live models to create the final paintings. This theory is confirmed by infrared scanning, which showed that many corrected sketches are hidden under a layer of paint.
11. “The Card Players” challenged the emotional conventions of such scenes.
Similar scenarios appeared repeatedly in the 17th century in Dutch and French painting. But they depicted drunken buffoons, fights and unbridled behavior during card games. Cezanne remained true to his style of restraint in emotions.
12. One of the paintings was stolen
The Card Players, during an exhibition in Paris in 1961, was stolen directly from the museum along with some other paintings. Details regarding their return are unclear: some sources say that the paintings were returned several months later after a ransom was paid, while others claim that all the paintings were found a year later in Marseille in an abandoned car.
13. A postage stamp was issued in France to commemorate the robbery.
To show the tragedy of the possible loss of the painting "Card Players" for France, a special postage stamp was issued dedicated to the theft of paintings.
14. Cézanne's "Card Players" was inspired by a visit to a museum.
A 17th-century painting by Louis Le Nain, also called The Card Players, was exhibited in the city museum (Granier Art Museum) during Cézanne's stay in the city. It is believed that the Baroque painting of men playing cards became the artist's muse.
15. Cezanne's paintings inspired Dogs Playing Poker
Cezanne's "Card Players" inspired the American artist Cassius Marcellus Coolidge to create a series of paintings called "Dogs Playing Poker."
It is worth noting that contemporary artists They also know how to captivate the public. Proof of this.
The largest deal with a work of art in history has been concluded: the royal dynasty of Qatar acquired Paul Cezanne’s painting “The Card Players” for a quarter of a billion dollars
The highest price for a work of art in history has been set: the royal dynasty of Qatar in a private transaction acquired Paul Cezanne's painting “The Card Players” for $250 million! With this legendary purchase, the small and oil-rich country entered the select group: only five versions of this painting exist, and four of them adorn world-class collections, such as the Orsay Museum and MoMA.
The price may seem crazy, since it is more than double the current record for a work of art sold at public auction ($106.5 million for a Picasso). And this is not an epic Van Gogh or a portrait of Vermeer, but a somewhat angular and gloomy image of two French philistines at a card table. However, with this legendary purchase, the small and oil-rich country acquired not only a masterpiece of post-impressionism, but also an entrance ticket to the elite club: only five versions of this painting exist, and four of them adorn the world-class collections of the Orsay Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Courtauld Institute of Art and Barnes Foundation. For a nation currently busy building a museum empire, this is an instant boost of credibility.
Is a painting painted at the turn of the twentieth century worth this money? Picasso called Cezanne, the inspirer of the Cubists and the harbinger of abstract art, “the father of us all.” “250 million is a fortune,” says appraiser Victor Wiener, who was approached by London insurers Lloyd’s after Steve Wynn elbowed a Picasso painting in 2006. “But if you open any art history textbook, you’re probably there.” you will see the image of “Card Players”. This is the most important thing central work. For months, rumors about its sale circulated in the art community. Now [that they have been confirmed] this price will be used as a starting point: it has changed the entire structure of the art market.”
The actual sale of the Cezanne painting took place in 2011, but the details of this secret deal are slowly emerging as key collectors, curators and dealers travel to Qatar for the opening of Takashi Murakami's legendary exhibition at Versailles. The country, which occupies a small protrusion of the large Arabian Peninsula, has become a new focus of cultural endeavors: a retrospective of Louise Bourgeois is taking place in Doha, and in March the World Art Forum will be held in Qatar, which will bring together leading artists, curators and heads of museum associations.
Qatar and its capital Doha are not just a place dotted with private jet parking lots. It is an intellectual and media center. The Al-Jazeera television company and branches of many American universities are located here - and they set themselves the most ambitious tasks. Qatar is a master at organizing large-scale projects. For example, in 2008, at the opening of the Museum of Islamic Art, a hippopotamus-shaped limestone building born of the imagination of Pritzker Prize-winning architect J.M. Pei, a flotilla of ancient ships entered Doha harbor, each representing one of the world's famous museums. And at the opening of the Qatari version of the Tribeca Film Festival, Robert De Niro rose from the depths of the sea on a rotating elevator.
In 2010, the Qatari emirs opened the Arab Museum contemporary art and Qatari national museum, which is now being renovated by the famous Jean Nouvel before re-opening in 2014. Cezanne may eventually go there, along with the primary works of Rothko, Warhol and Hirst, which the Qatari dynasty hunted at leading auctions or bought them in private transactions.
The royal dynasty of Qatar, however, does not give any comments about its acquisitions. In the small circle of auctioneers and dealers with whom Qatar deals, it is, as a rule, customary to sign non-disclosure agreements. But numerous sources confirm the fact of the purchase of “Card Players” by Qatar.
How did Qatar get Cezanne? For many years Greek shipowner George Embiricos kept this valuable work in his possession and rarely provided it for exhibitions. Many times he was offered to sell Cezanne, and as the art market grew, the offers of various dealers sounded more and more tempting, but Embirikos remained adamant. Last year, the painting “Card Players” from the Embirikos collection was named the most valuable work of art in private hands by theartwolf.com.
Shortly before his death in the winter of 2011, the collector began negotiations on the sale of the painting. According to knowledgeable people, two art dealers - William Acquavella and another (rumored to be Larry Gagosian) - offered over $220 million for the painting. But the Qatari royal dynasty paid 250 million or even more. Disputes about the exact amount of the transaction are caused by transfers of money from one currency to another when the painting changed hands. In their estimates of the final price, knowledgeable people reach up to $300 million.
Qatar’s interest in “The Gamblers” was also significantly fueled by the fact that just during the discussion of the deal, an entire exhibition dedicated to Cézanne’s series with card players opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the exhibition was clearly missing only one painting - from the Embirikos collection. It is considered the last in the series (created around 1895) and “the darkest, most perfect and most touching,” says Gary Tinterow, curator of the exhibition at the Met, now head of the Museum. fine arts in Houston.
Members of the Qatari dynasty buy art through G.P.S. - a triumvirate of dealers from New York and Paris, known for their discretion. Among its main participants are the grandson of the impressionist Camille Pissarro, Lionel Pissarro, and the dealer Philippe Segalot, who carried out many private transactions for the billionaire François Pinault. Also, according to people close to the matter, Guy Bennett, the former head of the Impressionist and Modernist department at Christie’s, also played a role in the deal with Cezanne.
The most expensive work of art sold at public auction was “Nude with a Bust and Green Leaves,” an image of the seductive Marie-Thérèse Walter, Pablo Picasso’s lover ($106.5 million, Christie’s, May 4, 2010). Privately, works by Picasso, Pollock, Klimt and de Kooning have traded for prices ranging from approximately $125 million to $150 million, with deals involving the likes of Ronald Lauder, Steve Wynn and David Geffen. But not a single transaction price came close to Cezanne’s. At the same time, Qatar is also interested in twentieth-century art: last year, The Art Newspaper website named this country the main buyer of art in the world, including contemporary art (a collection of works by Mark Rothko).
Qatar has an equally ambitious neighbor - the United Arab Emirates. The region contains 10% of the world's oil reserves, is home to about 4 million people, and until recently saw the world's largest construction boom. In the capital of Abu Dhabi, after a short stop, the construction of branches of the Louvre and the Guggenheim Museum has now continued.
The flourishing of the arts on the shores of the Persian Gulf, of course, occurs in the shadow of the Arab Spring, but it still cannot do without vibrant public spectacles. This is done for the sake of fame, attracting tourists, etc. - and art buyers create a sensation similar to Hollywood. The 28-year-old daughter of the Qatari emir, Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khaliwa Al-Thani, heads the Qatar Museums Authority. But her first job was at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York (she once boasted, laughing, that her job was buying breakfast cookies for Jane Rosenthal). Next week she will host the opening day of the Takashi Murakami exhibition.
Qatar became a significant player in the art market about a decade ago when Sheikh Saud Al-Thani, the minister of culture and second nephew of the Qatari emir, embarked on an unprecedented “shopping spree” in the global art market. True, everything ended badly: the sheikh was arrested in 2005 on charges of spending budget funds for other purposes (today he is already free). Now his cousin, Emir Saud al Saud, has picked up the baton of collecting.
Is the buying boom in Qatar over? No way. Qatar made another major “acquisition” last year, hiring former head Christie's Edd Dolman as director of its museum department.
Material prepared by Maria Onuchina,A.I.
