The Card Players, 1890–92
Paul Cézanne
Oil on canvas · 25 3/4 x 32 1/4 in. (65.4 x 81.9 cm)
Four Provençal men bent over a quiet card game in earthy blues and browns.
Four Provençal men lean over a card table in unhurried concentration, pipes lit, faces shadowed under wide hats. Cézanne built the scene from blocks of earthy blue, ochre and brown, turning a village pastime into something monumental and still.
What you're looking at
Nothing happens and nothing is about to. Cézanne removes every anecdote a tavern scene would normally carry — no drink being spilled, no argument, no winner — and leaves the men as blocks of ochre, blue and brown, as solid as the table. The bottle stands exactly at the centre and holds the whole composition upright. The sitters were farmhands from his family's estate, paid to sit still.
On a Frame TV
About 5:4. Matted file: the clean crop takes the hats or the table edge, and both are structural here. Earthy, mid-toned and quiet — it suits most rooms and demands nothing of the light.
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Other works in the collection, starting with Paul Cézanne.
