The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne
An Online Catalogue Raisonné under the Direction of Société Paul Cezanne
(Formerly directed by Walter Feilchenfeldt, Jayne Warman and David Nash)
FWN 873
Trois crânes
c.1898
Alternate titles: Les trois crânes; The Three Skulls; Three Skulls
Rewald (821): 1898–1900; Venturi revised: 1900–1904; Venturi (1567): c.1900; Reff: c.1902 (MoMA); Other: c.1898
Oil on canvas
13 3/8 x 23 5/8 in. (34 x 60 cm)
Vollard C stockbook: no. 7132, 3 têtes de mort, 35 x 61 cm
Provenance
Exhibition History
Bignou Gallery, New York, Paul Cézanne, November–December 1936, no. 26, ill., as Les trois crânes.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Cézanne, January 5, 1937.
W. Scott & Sons, Montreal, Paintings by French Masters, February 1937, no. 12, ill.
Alex Reid & Lefevre, London, Cézanne, June 1937, no. 24, ill., as Les trois crânes, dated c. 1900.
Whyte Gallery, Washington, D.C., Twentieth Century French Masters, November–December 1938, no. 2.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, The Age of Impressionism and Objective Realism, May 3–June 2, 1940, no. 8.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, The Two Sides of the Medal: French painting from Gèrôme to Gauguin, September 28–October 31, 1954, extended until November 11, no. 103, ill., as The Three Skulls, c. 1900, lent anonymously.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, A Collector's Treasure: The Tannahill Bequest, May 13–August 13, 1970.
Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan, Cézanne and Japan, September 11–December 19, 1999, no. 90, ill., as Trois crânes. Traveled to: Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, Japan, January 5–March 12, 2000.
Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Impressionist Still Life, September 22, 2001–January 13, 2002, pp. 192, 193, pl. 90, as The Three Skulls, lent by Detroit Institute. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, February 17–June 9, 2002.
Grand Palais, Paris, Picasso et les maîtres, October 8, 2008–February 2, 2009, listed p. 356, ill. p. 279, as Trois crânes, 1898-1900.
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, The World is an Apple: The Still Lifes of Paul Cézanne, June 14–September 22, 2014, pl. 18, p. 214 (dated c. 1900). Traveled to: Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, November 1, 2014–January 31, 2015.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Cezanne, May 15–September 5, 2022, no. 142, ill. shown in Chicago only. Traveled to: Tate Moderrn, London, October 6, 2022–March 12, 2023.
Published References
Bourgeois, Stephan. "A Vivid Panorama of Cézanne." Art News 35 (November 7, 1936), p. 22, ill., as Three Skulls.
Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne: Son Art, Son Oeuvre. Paris: Editions Paul Rosenberg, 1936, no. 1567, ill. vol. II, as Trois crânes.
Vollard, Ambroise. Souvenirs d'un marchand de tableaux. Paris: Albin Michel, 1937, pl. 8.
Anonymous. "Noted Works Mark Show at Institute." Detroit Free Press, May 5, 1940, p. 51 (mentioned), as The Three Skulls.
Robinson, Francis W. "Two Works by Paul Cézanne." Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts of the City of Detroit 20, no. 4 (January, 1941), pp. 31-33, ill. p. 32, as Three Skulls.
Laporte, Paul M. "Cézanne and Whitman." Magazine of Art 37, no. 6 (October 1944), p. 224, ill.
"[Aquisitions des musées du monde entier]." La Chronique des arts: supplément à la Gazette des beaux-arts, no. 1225 (February 1971), p. 100, no. 463, ill., as Les trois crânes, c. 1900.
Rubin, William, ed. Cézanne: The Late Work. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1977. Exhibition catalogue, pl. 153.
Reff, Theodore. "Cézanne: The Severed Head and the Skull." Arts Magazine 58, no. 2 (October 1983), p. 99, fig. 18.
Shiff, Richard. Cézanne and the end of Impressionism: a study of the theory, technique, and a critical evaluation of modern art. Chicago; London: The Univesity of Chicago Press, 1984, pp. 191, 212-213, fig. 42, 52, as Three Skulls, c. 1900.
Baron, Jean-Marie and Pascal Bonafoux. Cézanne: Les Natures Mortes. Paris: Editions Herscher, 1993, p. 59, ill.
Cachin, Françoise, and Joseph Rishel. Cézanne. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1995. Exhibition catalogue, p. 493, fig. 1.
Rewald, John. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne, A Catalogue Raisonné, 2 vols. In Collaboration with Walter Feilchenfeldt and Jayne Warman. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996, no. 821, ill. vol. 2, as Trois crânes.
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina M. Cézanne and Provence: The Painter in His Culture. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2003, p. 184, fig. 4.33, as Trois crânes.
Leca, Benedict. "'The Painter of Apples': Cézanne, Still Life, and Self-Fashioning." In The World Is an Apple: The Still Lifes of Paul Cézanne. Hamilton, Ontario: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2014. Exhibition catalogue, p. 82, fig. 12, as The Three Skulls.
Brettell, Richard R. On Modern Beauty: Three Paintings by Manet, Gauguin and Cézanne. Los Angeles: Getty Publicatons, 2019, fig. 38, c. 1900.
Record last updated January 31, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Société Paul Cezanne. "Trois crânes, c.1898 (FWN 873)." In The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=797 (accessed on April 16, 2024).
