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 874
Pyramide de crânes
1898–1900
Alternate titles: Pyramid of Skulls; Totenköpfe
Rewald (822): 1898–1900; Venturi revised: 1900–1904; Venturi (753): c.1900; Other: c.1898
Oil on canvas
15 3/8 x 18 5/16 in. (39 x 46.5 cm)
Private collection
Provenance
Exhibition History
Kunsthaus, Zurich, Europäische Kunst, 13. bis 20. Jahrhundert, June 6–August 13, 1950, listed p. 26, as Totenköpfe, c. 1900, lent by Private collection.
Kunsthaus, Zurich, Paul Cézanne, August 22–October 7, 1956, no. 79, lent by Private collection.
Städtische Kunsthalle, Recklinghausen, Germany, Verkannte Kunst, June 16–July 31, 1957, no. 23, ill., as Totenköpfe, lent by Frau Dr. W. Feilchenfeldt, Zurich.
Österreichische Galerie, Belvedere, Vienna, Paul Cézanne, April 14–June 18, 1961, no. 38, pl. 25.
Pavillon de Vendôme, Aix-en-Provence, France, Exposition Cézanne: Tableaux, Aquarelles, Dessins, July 1–August 15, 1961, no. 16, pl. 12.
National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Cézanne, March 30–May 19, 1974, no. 50. Traveled to: Municipal Museum, Kyoto, Japan, June 1–July 17, 1974; Cultural Center, Fukuoka, Japan, July 24–August 18, 1974.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York and Reunion des Musees Nationaux, Paris, France, Cézanne: The Late Work, October 7, 1977–January 3, 1978, no. 30, pl. 157. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, January 26–March 19, 1978; Grand Palais, Paris, Cezanne: Les dernières années (1895–1906), April 20–July 23, 1978 (see Paris 1978a for a separate listing because the catalogue numbers are different from the two American venues).
Grand Palais, Paris, Cézanne: Les dernières années (1895–1906), April 20–July 23, 1978, no. 25, ill.
Kunsthalle, Tübingen, Germany, Cézanne Gemälde, January 16–May 2, 1993, no. 87, ill.
Grand Palais, Paris, Cézanne, September 26, 1995–January 14, 1996, no. 212, ill. Traveled to: Tate Gallery, London, February 8–April 28, 1996; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, May 26–September 1, 1996.
Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Impressionist Still Life, September 22, 2001–January 13, 2002, pp. 192, 194, pl. 91, as Pyramid of Skulls, lent by Private collection. Traveled to: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, February 17–June 9, 2002.
Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, Cézanne: Aufbruch in die Moderne, September 18, 2004–January 16, 2005, listed p. 233, ill. pp. 111 and 214, as Pyramide de crânes.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Cézanne in Provence, January 29–May 7, 2006, no. 151, ill. shown in Washington only. Traveled to: Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence, France, June 9–September 17, 2006.
Kunsthaus, Zurich, Hommage à Cézanne, November 30, 2006–February 11, 2007, no no., as Pyramide de crânes, c. 1898/1900, lent by Private collection.
Louisiana Museum of Art, Humlebæk, Denmark, Cézanne & Giacometti: Paths of Doubt, February 20–June 29, 2008, no. 48, ill. p. 195, as Pyramide de crânes, lent by Private Collection.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Cézanne and Beyond, February 26–May 17, 2009, pl. 114, p. 325 (dated c. 1898), as Pyramide de crânes.
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany, Cézanne - Metamorphosen, October 28, 2017–February 11, 2018, no. 63, ill.
Published References
Dormoy, Marie. "Quelques tableaux de la collection particulière Ambroise Vollard." Formes: revue internationale des arts plastiques, no. 17 (September 1931), ill. between pp. 122 and 113.
Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne: Son Art, Son Oeuvre. Paris: Editions Paul Rosenberg, 1936, no. 753, ill. vol. II, as Pyramide de crânes.
Sutton, Denys. "The Paradoxes of Cézanne." Apollo (London) 100, no. 150 (August 1974), fig. 13 p. 105.
Bourges, Marianne R. Cézanne en son atelier. Aix-en-Provence: Ville d'Aix-en-Provence, 1977, ill.
Kitschen, Friederike. Cézanne: Stilleben. Ostfildern-Ruit: Verlag Gerd Hatje, 1995, fig. 61.
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. 822, ill. vol. 2, as Pyramide de crânes.
Smith, Paul. Interpreting Cézanne. London: Tate Publishing, 1996, p. 56, fig. 45, as Pyramid of Skulls.
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. 57, fig. 24, as Pyramide de 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. 4.34, as Pyramide de crânes.
Machotka, Pavel. Cézanne: The Eye and the Mind, 2 vols. Marseille: Editions Crès, 2008, vol. 1, fig. 393; vol. 2, p. 248, as Pyramide de crânes.
Golding, John. "Cézanne, Braque and Pictorial Space." In Cézanne and Beyond. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; New Haven: In association with Yale University Press, 2009, p. 257, ill. p. 325, pl. 114, as Pyramid of Skulls, dated c. 1898.
Kienle, Anabelle. "Cézanne and Beckmann: 'A Powerful New Pictorial Architecture.'" In Cézanne and Beyond. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; New Haven: In association with Yale University Press, 2009, p. 325, pl. 114, as Pyramid of Skulls, dated c. 1898.
Taylor, Michael R. "Learning from 'Papa Cézanne': Arshile Gorky and the (Self-) Invention of the Modern Artist." In Cézanne and Beyond. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. Exhibition catalogue, p. 425, ill., p. 325, pl. 114, as Pyramid of Skulls, dated c. 1898.
Sachs, Katherine. "Cézanne and Marden: The Almost Perfect Painting." In Cézanne and Beyond. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; New Haven: In association with Yale University Press, 2009. Exhibition catalogue, p. 491, ill., p. 325, pl. 114, as Pyramid of Skulls, dated c. 1898.
Eiling, Alexander. "Cézanne's Metamorphoses." In Cézanne Metamorphoses. Munich and Karlsruhe: Prestel and Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, 2017. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 24.
Stern, Lynn, and Donald Kuspit. Skull. London: Thames & Hudson, 2017, p. 246, ill.
Clark, T.J. If These Apples Should Fall, Cézanne and the Present. London and New York: Thames & Hudson, 2022, pl. 55.
Record last updated March 20, 2023. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Société Paul Cezanne. "Pyramide de crânes, 1898–1900 (FWN 874)." In The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=798 (accessed on April 27, 2024).
