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 1861
L'Eternel féminin
c.1877
Alternate titles: Das Ewigweibliche (L'Eternel féminin); Eternal Feminine; La Belle Impéria
Rewald (W57); Venturi revised: c.1877; Venturi (895): 1875–77; Rivière: c.1879
Graphite, watercolor, and gouache on laid paper
6 7/8 x 9 in. (17.4 x 22.8 cm)
Provenance
Private collection, Zurich
Exhibition History
Galerie Vollard, Paris, Paul Cézanne, November 11–December 15, 1895.
Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, Cézanne, May 20–October 11, 1936, no. 117, as L'Eternel féminin, c. 1877, lent by M et Mme Renée Pellerin, Paris.
National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Cézanne, March 30–May 19, 1974, no. 65, ill., as L'Eternel féminin, c. 1877, lent by Private collection, Zürcih. Traveled to: Municipal Museum, Kyoto, Japan, June 1–July 17, 1974; Cultural Center, Fukuoka, Japan, July 24–August 18, 1974.
Wildenstein Galleries, London, French Drawings XVIth to XIXth Century, 1979.
Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Paul Cézanne Aquarelle, January 16–March 21, 1982, no. 8, ill., as Das Ewigweibliche (L'Eternel féminin), 1872-75, lent by Private collection. Traveled to: Kunsthaus, Zürich, April 2–May 31, 1982.
Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland, Paul Cézanne: Die Badenden, September 10–December 10, 1989, no. 77, pl. 52, lent by Arnold and Anne Gumowitz, New York.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Cézanne Drawing, June 6–September 25, 2021, pl. 39, Collection Jasper Johns.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Cezanne, May 15–September 5, 2022, no. 12, ill. Jasper Johns Collection. Traveled to: Tate Modern, London, October 6, 2022–March 12, 2023.
Published References
Rivière, Georges. Le Maître Paul Cézanne. Paris: Librairie Floury, 1923, p. 207, listed, as La Belle Impéria.
Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne: Son Art, Son Oeuvre. Paris: Editions Paul Rosenberg, 1936, no. 895, ill. vol. II, as L'Eternel féminin.
Berthold, Gertrude. Cézanne und die alten Meister. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1958, p. 35.
Lindsay, Jack. Cézanne: His Life and Work. London: Evelyn, Adams & Mackay, 1969, fig. 82.
Dellis, Max. "'L'Eternel Féminin' de Cézanne." Arts et Livres de Provence (Marseille) 81 (1972), pp. 7-10 (inspired by Balzac's La Belle Impéria.
Rewald, John. Paul Cézanne: The Watercolors, A Catalogue Raisonné. Boston: Little, Brown; London: Thames & Hudson, 1983, no. 57, ill. and color pl. 3.
Elderfield, John. "Cézanne: The Lesson of the Master." Review of Paul Cézanne; The Watercolors, by John Rewald. Art in America 73, no. 6 (June 1985), p. 86, ill.
Adriani, Götz. "La Lutte d'amour: Notes on Cézanne's Early Figure Scenes." In Cézanne: The Early Years 1859-1872. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 1988. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 34, as L'Eternel féminin.
Cachin, Françoise, and Joseph Rishel. Cézanne. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1995. Exhibition catalogue, p. 161, fig. 1, as L'Eternel féminin, c. 1877.
Kostenevich, Albert. Hidden Treasures Revealed. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1995. Exhibition catalogue, p. 195, fig. 1.
Krumrine, Mary Louise. "Du plongeon aux baigneuses." Dossier de l'art (Dijon), no. 25 (September - October 1995), ill. p. 55.
Harvey, Benjamin. "Cézanne and Zola: A Reassessment of 'L'Eternel féminin.'" Burlington, vol. 140, no. 1142 (May 1998), p. 315, fig. 22.
Ballas, Guila. Cézanne: baigneuses et baigneurs: thème et composition. Paris: Adam Biro, 2002, p. 310, no. 263, ill.
Andersen, Wayne V. Cézanne and the Eternal Feminine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 3, fig. 2.
Armstrong, Carol. Cézanne in the Studio: Still Life in Watercolors. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 2004. Exhibition catalogue, p. 88, fig. 34, as Eternal Feminine.
Prat, Louis-Antoine. Le Dessin français au XIXe siècle. Paris: Somogy Editions d'Art, 2011, p. 603, no. 1441, ill. in color, as L'Eternel féminin, 1875-1877.
Colrat, Jean. Cézanne: Joindre les mains errantes de la nature. Paris-Sorbonne: PUPS, 2013, p. 186, fig. 79.
Lloyd, Christopher. Paul Cézanne, Drawings and Watercolors. London and Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson and John Paul Getty Museum, 2015, p. 91, fig. 50.
Eiling, Alexander, Anett Göthe, Astrid Reuter, Bettina Kaufmann, Eva-Maria Höllerer, Juliane Betz and Julia Lachenmann. "Catalog." In Cézanne Metamorphoses. Munich and Karlsruhe: Prestel and Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, 2017. Exhibition catalogue, p. 164 fig. 1.
Notes
This work and the painting of the same subject (FWN 649) has been linked to Eugène Delacroix's Death of Sardanapalus (Musée du Louvre, Paris).
Related
Related work
Record last updated June 22, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Société Paul Cezanne. "L'Eternel féminin, c.1877 (FWN 1861)." In The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=1034 (accessed on May 1, 2025).
