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 875
Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient
1904
Alternate titles: Drei Totenköpfe auf einem Orientteppich; Les trois têtes de mort; Three Skulls on a Patterned Carpet; Three Skulls on an Oriental Rug; Trois crânes
Rewald (824): 1904; Venturi revised: c.1904; Venturi (759): 1904; Rivière: c.1898
Oil on canvas
21 3/8 x 25 5/8 in. (54.5 x 65 cm)
Vollard archives: photo no. 319, Annotated by Cezanne's son: 1902
Provenance
Exhibition History
Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland, Cézanne, February 6–March 6, 1921, no. 27, as Les trois têtes de mort, tentative identification, lent by Muller.
Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, Cézanne, May 20–October 11, 1936, no. 110, as Trois crânes, lent by Frau Gertrude Dübi-Müller.
Kunstverein, Solothurn, Switzerland, Hundert Jahre Malerei aus Solothurne Privatbesitz, September 23–November 26, 1950, no. 57, as Trois crânes.
Kunstmuseum, Winterthur, Switzerland, Europäische Meister, 1790–1910, June 12–July 24, 1955, no. 33, as Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient, lent by G. Dübi, Solothurn.
Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, the Netherlands, Paul Cézanne, June 1–August 1, 1956, no. 51, lent by Dübi-Müller.
Kunsthalle, Tübingen, Germany, Cézanne Gemälde, January 16–May 2, 1993, no. 86, ill.
Grand Palais, Paris, Cézanne, September 26, 1995–January 14, 1996, no. 213, ill. Traveled to: Tate Gallery, London, February 8–April 28, 1996; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, May 26–September 1, 1996.
Haus der Kunst, Munich, Kunst über Grenzen. Die Klassische Moderne von Cézanne bis Tinguely und die Weltkunst - aus der Schweiz gesehen, March 7–May 30, 1999, no. 10, ill.
Kunstforum, Vienna, Cézanne: Vollendet unvollendet, January 20–April 25, 2000, no. 56, ill., as Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient, shown in Zürich only. Traveled to: Kunsthaus, Zürich, May 5–August 13, 2000 (initially planned to end on July 30 the exhibition was extended until August 13).
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Cézanne in Provence, January 29–May 7, 2006, no. 152, ill. Traveled to: Musée Granet, Aix-en-Provence, France, June 9–September 17, 2006.
Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany, El Greco und die Moderne, April 28–August 12, 2012, listed p. 405, ill. p. 167, as Three Skulls on a Patterned Carpet, lent by Kunstmuseum Solothurn.
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, The World is an Apple: The Still Lifes of Paul Cézanne, June 14–September 22, 2014, pl. 10, p. 83 (dated 1898–1905). Traveled to: Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, November 1, 2014–January 31, 2015.
Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel, Switzerland, The Hidden Cézanne: From Sketchbook to Canvas, June 10–September 24, 2017, no. 156, ill.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Cezanne, May 15–September 5, 2022, no. 140, ill. Traveled to: Tate Modern, London, October 6, 2022–March 12, 2023.
Published References
Graber, Hans. Paul Cézanne Briefe, Erinnerungen von Hans Graber. Basel: Schwabe, 1923, p. 96.
Rivière, Georges. Le Maître Paul Cézanne. Paris: Librairie Floury, 1923, p. 222, listed.
Bernard, Émile. Souvenirs sur Paul Cézanne, Une Conversation avec Cézanne. Paris: R.G. Michel, 1926, pp. 20–21, 22, 30–31, and 63.
Sterling, Charles. "Cézanne et les maîtres d'autrefois." La Renaissance (Paris), vol. 19, nos. 5-6 (May–June 1936), p. 14, as Trois crânes.
Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne: Son Art, Son Oeuvre. Paris: Editions Paul Rosenberg, 1936, no. 759, ill. vol. II, as Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient.
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), pp. 55 and 56, as Trois crânes.
Barnes, Albert C., and Violette de Mazia. The Art of Cézanne. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1939, no. 184, listed.
Rubin, William, ed. Cézanne: The Late Work. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1977. Exhibition catalogue, pl. 155.
Reff, Theodore. "Cézanne: The Severed Head and the Skull." Arts Magazine 58, no. 2 (October 1983), p. 99, fig. 19.
"Das Tor zur Moderne. Paul Cézanne in Schweizer Sammlungen." Du 49, no. 9 (September 1989), p. 26, ill.
Kitschen, Friederike. Cézanne: Stilleben. Ostfildern-Ruit: Verlag Gerd Hatje, 1995, fig. 59.
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. 824, ill. vol. 2, as Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient.
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. 23, as Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient.
Coutagne, Denis. "The Major Works in the Lauves Studio." In Atelier Cézanne, 1902–2002: Le centenaire. Aix-en-Provence: Société Paul Cézanne, 2002, fig. 3, ill. in color.
Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina M. Cézanne and Provence: The Painter in His Culture. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2003, p. 184, fig. 4.35, as Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient.
Koella, Rudolf. "Vollard und die Schweiz." In Renoir, Cézanne, Picasso und ihr Galerist Ambroise Vollard, Gloor, Lukas, Koella, Rudolf, Velhagen, Rudolf. Heidelberg: Edition Braus im Wachter Verlag, 2006. Exhibition catalogue, ill. p. 126, as Drei Totenköpfe auf einem Orientteppich.
Machotka, Pavel. Cézanne: The Eye and the Mind, 2 vols. Marseille: Editions Crès, 2008, vol. 1, fig. 394; vol. 2, p. 248, as Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient.
Kitschen, Friederike. "Melancholie und 'décoration.' Zur Stimmung im Werk Paul Cézannes." In Stimmung. Ästhetische Kategorie und künstlerische Praxis, edited by Kerstin Thomas. Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2010, p. 91, ill.
Fraisset, Michel. "La vite silenziose di Cézanne." In Cézanne: les ateliers du midi. Milan: Skira, 2011. Exhibition catalogue, p. 76, fig. 48.
Brettell, Richard. "Cézanne still lifes: Philadelphia and Hamilton." The Burlington Magazine 156, no. 1340 (November 2014), fig. 76, as Three Skulls on an Oriental Rug.
Smith, Paul. "Cézanne's Color Lab: Not-So-Still-Life." In The World Is an Apple: The Still Lifes of Paul Cézanne. Hamilton, Ontario: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2014. Exhibition catalogue, p. 115, fig. 10, as Three Skulls on an Oriental Rug.
Barbier-Mueller, Monique and Menz, Cäsar. Gertrud Dübi-Müller. Sammlerin, Fotografin, Mäzenin. Zurich: Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2016, no. 21, ill. p. 33.
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. 325 fig. 1.
Elderfield, John, Mary Morton, Xavier Rey. Cézanne Portraits. Paris: Musée d'Orsay and Editions Gallimard, 2017. Exhibition catalogue, p. 270, fig. 97.
Warman, Jayne. "Chronologie." In Cézanne Portraits. Paris: Musée d'Orsay and Editions Gallimard, 2017. Exhibition catalogue, p. 270, fig. 97.
Warman, Jayne. "Chronology." In Cézanne Portraits. London and Princeton, NJ.: National Portrait Gallery Publications and Princeton University Press, 2017. Exhibition catalogue, fig. 107.
Smith, Paul. "Looking slowly with Cezanne." The Burlington Magazine 165 (April 2023), figs. 25 and 22 (detail) with photo of the hindmost skull by the author, fig. 23.
Record last updated July 10, 2024. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Société Paul Cezanne. "Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient, 1904 (FWN 875)." In The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. www.cezannecatalogue.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=800 (accessed on December 4, 2024).
