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 3017-22b
Etude pour L'Eternel féminin
c.1870–75
Alternate titles: Das Ewig-Weibliche; Kompositionsstudie für das ewig Weibliche; L'éternel féminin; Study for L'Eternel féminin; Study for The Eternal Feminine; Study for the Painting 'The Eternal Feminine'
Chappuis (258); Venturi (1207): 1872–77
Graphite and black crayon on wove paper, page from the BSB sketchbook
7 x 9 5/16 in. (17.8 x 23.7 cm)
Exhibition History
Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, the Netherlands, Paul Cézanne, June 1–August 1, 1956, no. 101, 1872-77, lent by Kunstmuseum Basel.
Kunsthalle, Tübingen, Germany, Paul Cézanne - Das zeichnerische Werk, October 21–December 31, 1978, no. 21, ill. p. 112-13, as Das Ewig-Weibliche, 1870-1875, lent by Kunstmuseum Basel.
Palazzo Braschi, Rome, Disegni di Cézanne, February 13–March 30, 1979, no. 46, ill., p. 55.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Paul Cézanne: The Basel Sketchbooks, March 10–June 5, 1988, listed p. 146, ill. p. 47.
Royal Academy of Arts, London, Cézanne: The Early Years 1859–1872, April 22–August 21, 1988, no. 84, ill., as Etude pour L'Eternel féminin, 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, Tübingen, Germany, Bordell und Boudoir. Schauplätze der Moderne: Cézanne, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, January 22–May 22, 2005, no. 18, ill. p. 83, as Kompositionsstudie für das ewig Weibliche, 1867-70.
Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland, The Hidden Cézanne: From Sketchbook to Canvas, June 10–September 24, 2017, no. 42, ill.
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany, Cézanne - Metamorphosen, October 28, 2017–February 11, 2018, no. 9, ill.
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Cézanne Drawing, June 6–September 25, 2021, pl. 44, Kunstmuseum Basel, Kupferstichkabinett.
Published References
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Cézanne und sein Kreis: ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte: mit 127 Tonätzungen und fünfzehn Heliogravüren. Munich: R. Piper, 1918, ill. p. 51 (detail).
Meier-Graefe, Julius. Cézanne und sein Kreis: ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte: mit 171 Tonätzungen und einem Lichtdruck. Munich: R. Piper, 1922, ill. p. 51 (detail).
Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne: Son Art, Son Oeuvre. Paris: Editions Paul Rosenberg, 1936, no. 1207, ill. vol. II (detail), as L'éternel féminin.
Berthold, Gertrude. Cézanne und die alten Meister. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1958, p. 35.
Chappuis, Adrien. Les dessins de Paul Cézanne au cabinet des estampes du Musée des beaux-arts de Bâle. Olten and Lausanne: Urs Graf, 1962, no. 79, ill.
Dellis, Max. "'L'Eternel Féminin' de Cézanne." Arts et Livres de Provence (Marseille) 81 (1972), pp. 7-10.
Chappuis, Adrien. The Drawings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1973, no. 258, ill., as Study for The Eternal Feminine.
Ballas, Guila. "Cézanne et la Galerie d'Apollon au Louvre." Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de l'art français (1980), p. 261, fig. 8, as Etude pour L'Eternel féminin.
Koepplin, Dieter. Paul Cézanne: Die Basler Zeichnungen. Basel: Kunstmuseum, 1988, no. 8, ill.
Ballas, Guila. Cézanne: baigneuses et baigneurs: thème et composition. Paris: Adam Biro, 2002, fig. 12c p. 30.
Andersen, Wayne V. Cézanne and the Eternal Feminine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 64, fig. 45.
Coutagne, Denis. "Le Femme exposée." In Cézanne et Paris. Paris: Éditions de la Rmn-Grand Palais, 2011. Exhibition catalogue, p. 92, fig. 42.
Freudenberg, Inken. "'And the picture, once left, torments us and pursues us': Cézanne and Delacroix." In Cézanne and the Past: Tradition and Creativity. Budapest: Museum of Fine Arts, 2012. Exhibition catalogue, p. 54, fig. 23, as Study for the Painting 'The Eternal Feminine'.
Schubert, Karsten. Review of Cézanne drawings. The Burlington Magazine 154, no. 1375 (October 2017), fig. 86, as Study for L'Eternel féminin, c. 1877.
Lloyd, Christopher. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Drawings. New York: Thames & Hudson Inc., 2019, p. 90, ill., as L'éternel féminin.
Related work
This work is part of a sketchbook:
Sketchbook 18 x 24, 1861–80 (3017)
Sketchbook 18 x 24, 1861–80 (3017)
The sheets have been widely dispersed. Because there is no pagination, the FWN numbers have been assigned an arbitrary sequence and the pages listed individually.
Browse complete sketchbookRecord last updated February 10, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Société Paul Cezanne. "Etude pour L'Eternel féminin, c.1870–75 (FWN 3017-22b), page from the BSB sketchbook." In The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=1914 (accessed on March 20, 2025).
