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)
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FWN 607
La Conversation
1870–71
Alternate titles: Dames en crinoline; Die Schwestern; Die zwei Schwestern; Les deux soeurs; Les deux soeurs de Cezanne (Mlle Cezanne, Mme Conil née Cezanne, M.M. Abram et Valabregue) or La conversation; Les deux sœurs ou La conversation; Les soeurs de Cézanne; Portrait de Mlle Cézanne et Mme Cornil [sic]; Portraits de Mlle Cézanne, Mme Conil, Mm Abram et Valabrègue; The conversation; The Two Sisters
Rewald (152): 1870–71; Venturi revised: c.1871; Venturi (120): 1870–71; Rivière: 1875
Oil on canvas
36 3/16 x 28 11/16 in. (92 x 73 cm)
Provenance
Private collection, Paris
Private collection;
Exhibition History
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Paul Cézanne, January 6–17, 1914, no. 9, as Les soeurs de Cézanne, for sale.
Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich, Ausstellung: Französische Kunst, January 20–February 17, 1915, no. 10, as Les deux soeurs.
Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland, Französische Klassiker des 19. Jahrhunderts, May 2–30, 1915, no. 58, as Les deux soeurs.
Knoedler Galleries, New York, Paintings by Contemporary French Artists, January 5–29, 1916, no. 12, as The Two Sisters.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Exposition rétrospective Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) au profit de la caisse du Monument Cézanne, June 1–30, 1926, no. 51, as Les deux soeurs, lent by Bernheim-Jeune; shown in an installation photo in Dauberville, 2020, p. 117.
Galerie Thannhauser, Vereinshaus der Berliner Künstler, Berlin, Erste Sonderausstellung in Berlin, January 9–mid-February, 1927, no. 12, ill., as Die zwei Schwestern, lent by Bernheim-Jeune.
Galerie Pigalle, Paris, Exposition Cèzanne, 1839–1906, January 4–February 7, 1930, no. 1, ill., as Les deux soeurs, 1870, lent by Bernheim-Jeune.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Cents ans de portraits français (1800–1900), October 15–November 12, 1934, no. 18, ill.
Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Quelques tableaux d'Ingres à Gauguin, June 11–July 13, 1935, no. 4, ill., as Les deux soeurs.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Portraits de femmes et enfants, April 14–May 8, 1936, no. 6, as Portrait de Mlle Cézanne et Mme Cornil [sic].
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, La femme, 1800–1930, April–June 1948, no. 15, ill., as La Conversation.
Orangerie, Paris, Monticelli et le baroque provençal, June 19–September 15, 1953, no. 12, as Les deux sœurs ou La conversation, c. 1870-71, lent by Bernheim-Jeune, Paris.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune-Dauberville, Paris, Cézanne – Aquarelliste et Peintre, May–July 1960, no. 27, as Les deux sœurs ou La conversation, 1870-71.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Cent ans de portrait, 1860–1960, May–July 1962, no. 12, as Les deux soeurs, "de gauche à droite: Rose – Madame Maxime Conil – et Marie Cézanne, soeurs de l'artiste, Antony Valabrègue et Antoine Marion, deux amis".
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Sur le thème idole, Les Parfums Lubin exposent...., December 6–8, 1962, no. 9, as Les deux sœurs ou La conversation.
Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Die Welt des Impressionismus, June 29–September 29, 1963, no. 4, ill., as Die zwei Schwestern, 1870-1871, lent by Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, L'Art et la mode, Au profit de l'Orphelinat des Arts, June–July 1965, no. 6, as Les deux soeurs.
Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, Aquarelles de Cézanne: au profit de la fondation des journalistes, January 12–March 13, 1971, no. 24.
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Impressionnisme et la mode [English translation: Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity], September 25, 2012–January 20, 2013, no. 26, ill., as La Conversation, shown with original fashion plate, lent by Private collection, courtesy Galerie Bernheim-Jeune. Traveled to: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, February 26–May 27, 2013; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, June 26–September 22, 2013.
Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, Switzerland, Paul Cézanne: le chant de la terre, June 16–November 19, 2017, no. 79, ill. lent by Private collection.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Cezanne, May 15–September 5, 2022, no. 6, ill. Private collection; shown in Chicago only. Traveled to: Tate Modern, London, October 6, 2022–March 12, 2023.
Published References
Denis, Maurice. "Cézanne: I [and] II." Kunst und Künstler 12, no. 4 and no. 5 (1914), ill. p. 282.
Cortissoz, Royal. "Paul Cézanne and the Cult for His Paintings." New York Tribune, January 9, 1916, ill.
[McBride, Henry]. "What's Happening in the World of Art." The Sun (New York), January 9, 1916, ill. p. [8] (fifth section), as The Two Sisters.
"French Pictures at Knoedler's." New York Times Magazine (Jan. 9, 1916), pp. 21-22, as The Two Sisters.
Coquiot, Gustave. "Paul Cézanne." Le Carnet des artistes: art ancien, art moderne, arts appliqués, no. 9 (1917), ill. p. 9.
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Cézanne und sein Kreis: ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte: mit 127 Tonätzungen und fünfzehn Heliogravüren. Munich: R. Piper, 1918, ill. p. 91.
Gasquet, Joachim. Cézanne. Paris: Les Editions Bernheim-Jeune, 1921, p. 22, pl. p. 22, as ...dans une toile qu'il fit de ses sœurs ...
J.[anneau], G.[uillaume]. "Impressions d'Amérique: M. Bénédite nous conte son voyage." Le Bulletin de la vie artistique 2, no. 8 (April 15, 1921), ill. p. 239.
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Cézanne und sein Kreis: ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte: mit 171 Tonätzungen und einem Lichtdruck. Munich: R. Piper, 1922, ill. p. 103, as Die Schwestern, 1870.
Klingsor, Tristan L. Cézanne. Paris: Rieder, 1923, pl. 2, as Portraits de Mlle Cézanne, Mme Conil, Mm Abram et Valabrègue.
Rivière, Georges. Le Maître Paul Cézanne. Paris: Librairie Floury, 1923, p. 201, listed, ill. opp. p. 34, as La Conversation, dated 1875, Pellerin.
Gasquet, Joachim. Cézanne. Paris: Les Editions Bernheim-Jeune, 1926, p. 36, pl. [6] hors texte, as ...dans une toile qu'il fit de ses sœurs ...
Vauxcelles, Louis. "A propos de Cézanne [Hommage à Paul Cézanne]." L'Art vivant (Paris), no. 37 (July 1, 1926), p. 484, ill., as Dames en crinoline.
Dormoy, Marie, translated by Margarete Mauthner. "Die Cézanne - Ausstellung bei Bernheim-Jeune." Kunst und Künstler 24, no. 11 (1926), p. 449.
Osborn, Max. "Klassiker der französischen Moderne: Die Galerien Thannhauser im Berliner Künstlerhaus." Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration 59 (October 1926-March 1927), ill. p. 334, as Die zwei Schwestern.
Sch.[effler], K.[arl]. "Kunstausstellungen: Berlin." Kunst und Künstler 25, no. 6 (1927), ill. p. 225.
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Cézanne. translated by J. Holroyd-Reece. London: Ernest Benn, 1927, pl. VI.
Meier-Graefe, Julius. "Die Franzosen in Berlin." Der Cicerone 19, no. 2 (January 1927), pp. 43-44.
Charensol, Georges. "Cézanne à la galerie Pigalle." L'Art vivant (Paris), no. 124 (February 15, 1930), p. 181, ill.
Dormoy, Marie. "Die Cézanne—Ausstellung im Théâtre Pigalle." Kunst und Künstler 28, no. 6 (1930), p. 248.
Rivière, Georges. Cézanne: Le Peintre solitaire. Paris: Librairie Floury, 1933, p. 51, ill.
Kahn, Gustave. "Art: Cent ans de portraits français: Galerie Bernheim Jeune." Mercure de France (November 15, 1934), p. 168.
René-Jean. "Cent ans de portraits français 1800-1900." Comoedia (Paris), October 17, 1934, p. 2, as La Conversation.
Di San Lazzaro, Gualtieri. Paul Cézanne. Paris: Chroniques du Jour, 1936, fig. 44.
Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne: Son Art, Son Oeuvre. Paris: Editions Paul Rosenberg, 1936, no. 120, ill. vol. II, as La Conversation.
Rewald, John. "Sources d'inspiration de Cézanne." L'Amour de l'art 17, no. 5 (May 1936), fig. 98 p. 192, as La Conversation, c. 1865.
Francastel, Pierre. L'impressionnisme: Les origines de la peinture moderne de Monet à Gauguin. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1937, fig. 14, as Les deux soeurs, private collection.
Rivière, Georges. Cézanne: Le Peintre solitaire. Paris: Librairie Floury, 1942, p. 51, ill.
Murphy, Richard W. The World of Cézanne, 1839–1906. New York: Time-Life Books, 1968, p. 41.
Roskill, Mark W. "Early Impressionism and the Fashion Print." The Burlington Magazine 112, no. 807 (June 1970), p. 392, note 2.
Roskill, Mark W. "Early Impressionism and the Fashion Print." The Burlington Magazine 113, no. 814 (January 1971), p. 46.
Schapiro, Meyer. Paul Cézanne. Translated by Louis-Marie Ollivier. Paris: Nouvelles Editions Françaises, 1973, p. 56, ill.
Barskaya, Anna and Evgenia Georgievskaia. Paul Cézanne: Bilder aus Museen der Sowjetunion. Leningrad: Aurora Art Publishers, 1983, ill. p. 126.
Lévêque, Jean Jacques. La Vie et l'oeuvre de Paul Cézanne. Courbevoie: ACR, 1988, p. 54, ill. in b/w.
Rewald, John. Cézanne and America: Dealers, Collectors, Artists and Critics, 1891–1921. Princeton: Princeton University Press; London: Thames & Hudson, 1989, p. 301, fig. 151.
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. 152, ill. vol. 2, as La Conversation.
Dombrowski, André. "The emperor's last clothes: Cézanne, fashion and 'l'année terrible.'" The Burlington Magazine 148, no. 1242 (September 2006), fig. 6, as The conversation, c. 1871, with photograph of color plate from La Mode illustrée.
Dombrowski, André. Cézanne, Murder, and Modern Life. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013, pl. 14a.
Gottlieb, Lennart. Modernism: Reinventing Painting, 1908–41. Aarhus: ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, 2012. Exhibition catalogue, p. 180, fig. 121.
Kitschen, Friederike. "Auf der dunklen Seite der Moderne." Review of Cézanne, Murder, and Modern Life. Kunstchronik 68, no. 2 (February 2015), p. 86.
Dauberville, Guy-Patrice, and Floriane Dauberville. Paul Cezanne chez Bernheim-Jeune. Paris: Editions G-P.F. Dauberville & Archives Bernheim-Jeune, 2020, no. 160, ill., as Les deux soeurs de Cezanne (Mlle Cezanne, Mme Conil née Cezanne, M.M. Abram et Valabregue) or La conversation, installation photographs from their exhibitions: 1926, p. 117; 1934, p. 129; 1936, p. 137.
Notes
This work was inspired by a fashion plate from La Mode illustré, dated July 31, 1870.
The female figures represented are said to be Cezanne's two sisters, Marie (born 1841) and Rose (b. 1854); the male figures Antony Valabrègue (b. 1844) and his cousin Benjamin Abram (b. 1851).
Adéle-Anaïs Toudouze, La Mode Illustrée, July 31, 1870
Record last updated May 12, 2023. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Société Paul Cezanne. "La Conversation, 1870–71 (FWN 607)." In The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=160 (accessed on July 11, 2025).
