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 602-TA
Paul Alexis lisant à Émile Zola
1869–70
Alternate titles: Alexis et Zola; Emile Zola et Alexis; Emile Zola et Paul Alexis; Le portrait d'Emile Zola et de Paul Alexis; Paul Alexis leyendo a Zola; Paul Alexis lisant à Zola; Paul Alexis lisant unmanuscrit à Emile Zola; Paul Alexis Reading to Emile Zola; Paul Alexis Reading to Zola; Portrait de Zola et d'Alexis se faisant la lecture; Portraits of Emile Zola and Paul Alexis; Zola and Alexis; Zola et Alexis
Rewald (151): 1869–70; Venturi revised: c.1870; Venturi (117): 1869–70; Cooper: 1869–70; Gowing: (Edinburgh) 1869–70; Ratcliffe: between September 1869 and July 1870
Oil on canvas
51 3/16 x 63 in. (130 x 160 cm)
Provenance
Exhibition History
Knoedler Galleries, New York, Pictures of People, 1870–1930, April 6–18, 1931, no. 5, ill., as Portraits of Emile Zola and Paul Alexis, lent by Wildenstein & Co.
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Modern French Painting, May 22–June 30, 1931, no. 17, ill. lent by Wildenstein.
Pennsylvania Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Cézanne, November 10–December 10, 1934, no. 2, (dated c. 1863–65), as Zola and Alexis, lent by Wildenstein.
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, Opening Exhibition (Modern French Painting), 1935, no. 4, ill. lent by Wildenstein.
Wildenstein Galleries, London, Nineteenth Century Masterpieces, May 9–June 15, 1935, no. 8, ill.
Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, Cézanne, May 20–October 11, 1936, no. 178, as Alexis et Zola, lent by Wildenstein; dated circa 1868.
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio, Relationships between French Literature and Paintings in the Nineteenth Century, 1938, no. 9.
Wildenstein Galleries, New York, Great Portraits from Impressionism to Modernism, March 1–29, 1938, no. 3, pl. 1.
Musée de Lyon, Palais Saint-Pierre, Lyon, France, Centenaire de Paul Cézanne, May 7–June 18, 1939, no. 8, lent by Wildenstein.
Société des artistes indépendants, Grand Palais, Paris, 50e exposition - Centenaire du peintre indépendant Paul Cézanne, March 17–April 10, 1939, no. 5, as Zola et Alexis, lent by Wildenstein.
Wildenstein Galleries, London, Homage to Paul Cézanne, July 1939, no. 8, lent by Wildenstein.
Wildenstein Galleries, New York, Cézanne, March 27–April 26, 1947, no. 3, ill. lent by Wildenstein.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, The Art of Cézanne, January 7–February 5, 1950, as Paul Alexis lisant à Émile Zola, lent by Wildenstein.
Wildenstein Galleries, London, Masterpieces: Festival of Britain 1951, May 31–July 14, 1951, no. 16, ill.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Cézanne: Paintings, Watercolors & Drawings, A Loan Exhibition, February 7–March 16, 1952, no. 14, ill. lent by São Paulo. Traveled to: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, April 1–May 16, 1952.
Orangerie, Paris, Monticelli et le baroque provençal, June 19–September 15, 1953, pl. XXX, as Alexis et Zola, no catalogue entry, illustration only.
Orangerie, Paris, Chefs-d'oeuvre du Musée d'Art de São Paulo, October 10, 1953–January 1954, no. 3, ill. Traveled to: Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, January 14–February 28, 1954; Utrecht Centraal Museum, March 6–May 2, 1954; Berner Kunstmusuem, Bern, Switzerland, May 8–June 7, 1954; Tate Gallery, London, June 19–August 15, 1954; Palazzo reale, Milan, November 1954–February 1955.
Utrecht Centraal Museum, Utrecht, the Netherlands, Meesterwerken uit São Paulo, March 6–May 2, 1954, no. 46, ill.
Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Paintings by Cézanne, August 20–September 18, 1954, no. 6, as Paul Alexis lisant à Zola, lent by the Museum of Art, São Paulo. Traveled to: Tate Gallery, London, September 29–October 27, 1954.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Paintings from the São Paulo Museum of Art, March 21–June 2, 1957, no. 45, ill., with detail.
National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Cézanne, March 30–May 19, 1974, no. 6. Traveled to: Municipal Museum, Kyoto, Japan, June 1–July 17, 1974; Cultural Center, Fukuoka, Japan, July 24–August 18, 1974.
Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, Paul Cézanne, March 9–April 1984, no. 4, ill.
Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Cézanne, September 18–October 7, 1986, no. 5, ill. lent by Museu de Arte de São Paulo. Traveled to: Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kobe, Japan, October 10–November 9, 1986; Aichi Prefectural Art Gallery, Nagoya, Japan, November 15–December 4, 1986.
Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy, Da Manet a Toulouse-Lautrec, July 4–September 27, 1987, no number, ill., pp. 120–24. Traveled to: Serrone della Villa Reale, Monza, Italy, October 7–December 6, 1987; Villa Croce, Genova, Italy, December 17, 1987–February 21, 1988.
Royal Academy of Arts, London, Cézanne: The Early Years 1859–1872, April 22–August 21, 1988, no. 47, ill. shown in Paris and Washington, D.C. only. Traveled to: Musée d'Orsay, Cézanne: les années de jeunesse 1859-1872, Paris, September 19, 1988–January 1, 1989; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., January 29–April 30, 1989.
Kunsthalle, Tübingen, Germany, Cézanne Gemälde, January 16–May 2, 1993, no. 6, ill.
Grand Palais, Paris, Impressionnisme: Les origines, 1859–1869, April 19–August 8, 1994, no. 30, p. 349, fig. 265. Traveled to: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Origins of Impressionism, September 19, 1994–January 8, 1995.
Kunstforum, Vienna, Cézanne: Vollendet unvollendet, January 20–April 25, 2000, no. 1, ill., as Paul Alexis Reading to Emile Zola. Traveled to: Kunsthaus, Zürich, May 5–August 13, 2000 (initially planned to end on July 30 the exhibition was extended until August 13).
Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, Cézanne et Paris, October 12, 2011–February 26, 2012, no. 15, ill., p. 39, as Paul Alexis lisant à Émile Zola, lent by MASP, São Paulo.
Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - MASP, Sao Paulo, Arte da França: de Delacroix a Cézanne, July 17–November 8, 2015.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Cézanne Portraits, June 13–September 24, 2017, no. 11, ill.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Cézanne Portraits, June 13–September 24, 2017, no. 3.3, ill. Traveled to: National Portrait Gallery, London, October 26, 2017–February 11, 2018; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C, March 25–July 1, 2018.
Published References
Cogniat, Raymond. "Cézanne Intime." Le Monde illustré (Paris) (June 6, 1936), p. 483, ill. Coll. Georges Wildenstein.
Flament, Albert. "Tableaux de Paris: Peinture." La Revue de Paris (Paris) (September 1936), p. 950, as Le portrait d'Emile Zola et de Paul Alexis.
Guenne, Jacques. "Paul Cézanne et le drame de la peinture." L'Art vivant (Paris), no. 204 (1936), ill. p. [155].
Laprade, Jacques de. "L'exposition Cézanne à l'Orangerie." Beaux-arts: Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 177 (May 22, 1936), ill. p. 1, as Zola et Alexis.
Rydbeck, Ingrid. "Apropå Cézanne." Konstrevy (Stockholm) XII, no. 5 (1936), ill. p. 136, as Alexis et Zola.
Huyghe, René. "Cézanne et son oeuvre." L'Amour de l'art 17, no. 5 (May 1936), fig. 43 p. 168, as Emile Zola et Paul Alexis, c. 1869.
Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne: Son Art, Son Oeuvre. Paris: Editions Paul Rosenberg, 1936, no. 117, ill. vol. II, as Paul Alexis lisant à Zola.
"Cezanne's Paintings and Watercolors Exhibited in Fine One Man Loan Show at the Paris Orangerie." The Art News XXXIV, 39 (Aug. 15, 1936), p. 6, ill., as Alexis et Zola.
Vollard, Ambroise. Souvenirs d'un marchand de tableaux. Paris: Albin Michel, 1937, pl. 12.
Rewald, John. "A propos du catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre de Paul Cézanne et de la chronologie de cette œuvre." La Renaissance (Paris), vol. 20, nos. 3-4 (March–April 1937), p. 54, as Portrait de Zola et d'Alexis se faisant la lecture.
Davidson, Martha. "Impressionist and Later Portraits." Art News Vol. 36, Issue 23 (March 5, 1938), p. 10, ill.
Barnes, Albert C., and Violette de Mazia. The Art of Cézanne. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1939, no. 12, ill. p. 155 (analysis p. 312).
Le Blond-Zola, Denise. "Jeunesse de deux hommes de génie: la vérité sur l'amitié de Cézanne et de Zola." Ce soir (Paris), May 17, 1939, ill. p. 4, as Emile Zola et Alexis, c. 1868.
Rewald, John. Cézanne, sa vie, son œuvre, son amitié pour Zola. Paris: Albin Michel, 1939, fig. 24.
Sargent, Winthrop. "Cézanne: The Great Paintings of a Frustrated Recluse Changed the Whole Course of Modern Art." Life 32, no. 8 (February 25, 1952), p. 88, ill., detail.
Storey, Benjamin. "Retrospettiva Cézanne." Emporium 115, no. 689 (May 1952), p. 197, ill.
Bardi, P.M. and Hélène Adhémar. Art et Style. 30, L'art français au Musée d'art de Sao-Paulo. Paris, 1st trimester 1954, ill. in b/w (n.p.), as Paul Alexis lisant unmanuscrit à Emile Zola, c. 1870.
Bardi, Pietro Maria. "Paintings at São Paulo Museu de Arte." Connoisseur 133 (March 1954), p. 17, ill.
Adhémar, Jean. "Le cabinet de travail de Zola." Gazette des beaux-arts, vol. 56, periode 6 (November 1960), p. 287, fig. 5 p. 288.
Rewald, John. The History of Impressionism. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1961, p. 201, ill.
Lindsay, Jack. "Cézanne and Zola." Art and Artists 4, no. 6 (September 1969), p. 23, detail.
Schapiro, Meyer. Paul Cézanne. Translated by Louis-Marie Ollivier. Paris: Nouvelles Editions Françaises, 1973, p. 33, ill.
Sutton, Denys. "The Paradoxes of Cézanne." Apollo (London) 100, no. 150 (August 1974), fig. 7 p. 101.
Monneret, Sophie. Cézanne, Zola . . . La fraternité du génie. Paris: Denoël, 1978, ill. p. 39.
Monneret, Sophie. L'Impressionnisme et son époque: dictionnaire international illustré. Paris: Denoël, 1978, vol. 1, ill. p. 38.
Harris, Nathaniel. The Art of Cézanne. London: Optimum Books, 1982, p. 29, ill. in color.
Bonafoux, Pascal. Les Impressionnistes portraits et confidences. Geneva: Skira, 1986, p. 21, ill.
Pickvance, Ronald, and Hideo Takumi. Cézanne. Tokyo: Tokyo Shimbun, 1986. Exhibition catalogue, p. 29, pl. 5.
Thomas, Denis. The Age of the Impressionists. Middlesex, U.K.: Holiday House, 1987, p. 155, ill.
Lévêque, Jean Jacques. La Vie et l'oeuvre de Paul Cézanne. Courbevoie: ACR, 1988, p. 27, ill. in color.
Plazy, Gilles. Cézanne ou la peinture absolue. Paris: Editions Liana Levi, 1988, p. 23, ill. in color.
Lewis, Mary Tompkins. Cézanne's Early Imagery. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, p. 138.
Gasquet, Joachim. Joachim Gasquet's Cézanne. Translated by C. Pemberton. London and New York: Thames & Hudson, 1991, p. 92, ill.
Verdi, Richard. "Tübingen: Cézanne." The Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1081 (April 1993), fig. 52 p. 295, as Paul Alexis Reading to Zola.
Cachin, Françoise, and Joseph Rishel. Cézanne. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1995. Exhibition catalogue, p. 25, il.
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. 151, ill. vol. 2 and p. 28, ill. col. vol. 1, as Paul Alexis lisant à Émile Zola.
Klemm, Christian. "Paul Cézanne 'Paul Alexis liest Zolar vor.'" In Manet, Zola, Cézanne: Das Porträt des Modernen Literaten. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje, 1999. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 1.
Benesch, Evelyn. "From the Incomplete to the Unfinished: Realisation in the Work of Paul Cézanne." In Cézanne: Finished, Unfinished. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 2000. Exhibition catalogue, p. 43, fig. 1, as Paul Alexis lisant à Émile Zola.
Soichita, Victor I. "L'oeuvre, la cabeza, el ventre." Arte y Parte: revista de arte (Madrid) 30 (December 2000-January 2001), ill. p. 49, as Paul Alexis leyendo a Zola.
Mori, Gioia. "'La letteratura si esprime con astrazioni mentre il pittore concretizza.' Gli scrittori di Cézanne: Zola, Balzac e Flaubert." In Cézanne: Il padre dei moderni. Milan: Mazzotta, 2002. Exhibition catalogue, ill. p. 86.
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina M. Cézanne and Provence: The Painter in His Culture. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2003, p. 90, fig. 2.40, as Paul Alexis lisant à Émile Zola.
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina M. "Cézanne and His Friends at Jas de Bouffan." In Jas de Bouffan: Cézanne, Société Paul Cézanne. Aix-en-Provence: Hexagone, 2004, fig. 27, ill. in color.
Tosini, Aurora Scotti. "Paul Cézanne (1839–1906)." In Cézanne, Renoir. Milan: Skira, 2005. Exhibition catalogue, p. 49, ill.
Feilchenfeldt, Walter. "Cézannes Sammler. Von Zola bis Annenberg." In "By Appointment Only": Schriften zu Kunst und Kunsthandel,
Cézanne und Van Gogh. Wädenswil: Nimbus, 2005, p. 164, ill.
Machotka, Pavel. Cézanne: The Eye and the Mind, 2 vols. Marseille: Editions Crès, 2008, vol. 1, fig. 63; vol. 2, p. 59, as Paul Alexis lisant à Émile Zola.
Mitterand, Henri. "Une fraternité d'artistes: Cézanne et Zola." In Cézanne et Paris. Paris: Éditions de la Rmn-Grand Palais, 2011. Exhibition catalogue, p. 39, ill., as Paul Alexis lisant à Émile Zola.
Cézanne, Paul. The Letters of Paul Cézanne. Edited and translated by Alex Danchev. London and Los Angeles: Thames & Hudson; Getty Publications, 2013, p. 145, ill.
Dombrowski, André. Cézanne, Murder, and Modern Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013, pl. 9.
Rubin, James. "Amitiés et théories: Courbet/Proudhon, Cézanne/Zola ou comment Cézanne connu Courbet." In Courbet/Cézanne, La vérité en peinture. Lyon: Fage éditions, 2013. Exhibition catalogue, p. 43, fig. 1.
Kitschen, Friederike. "Auf der dunklen Seite der Moderne." Review of Cézanne, Murder, and Modern Life. Kunstchronik 68, no. 2 (February 2015), p. 82.
Mitterand, Henri. Paul Cézanne, Émile Zola, Lettres croisées, 1858–1887. Paris: Gallimard, 2016, fig. 9, dated 1869–70.
Guégan, Stéphane. "Bienheureux Cézanne, Retour sur les années 1860." In Paul Cezanne, Le chant de la terre. Martigny: Fondation Pierre Gianadda, 2017. Exhibition catalogue, p. 53, fig. 6.
Clark, T.J. If These Apples Should Fall, Cézanne and the Present. London and New York: Thames & Hudson, 2022, pl. 66.
Notes
Painted out of doors in Zola's garden on the rue La Condamine. The work was unfinished presumably because Cézanne and Zola returned to the Midi after the declaration of war (Franco-Prussian) in mid-July 1870.
Record last updated August 7, 2024. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Société Paul Cezanne. "Paul Alexis lisant à Émile Zola, 1869–70 (FWN 602-TA)." In The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=159 (accessed on March 16, 2025).
