Paul Cézanne
Bathers
1897-1899
Scroll
Paul Cézanne
Bathers
1897-1899
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, 10 5/8 x 18 1/8 in. (27 x 46 cm.)
Framed: 16 x 23 1/2 x 3 1/2 in. (40.6 x 59.7 x 8.9 cm.)
Credit Line
The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland
Object Number
1950.195
Cézanne’s interest in the motif of bathers in a landscape began in the 1860s, and continued throughout his career. He produced more than two hundred works on the subject, and with them produced a harmonious vision of figures in a landscape in which all of the separate elements—bodies, trees, water, earth—are of equal importance.
This painting was included in the large Cézanne retrospective of the Salon d’Automne of 1904, and it may have been there that the Leo and Gertrude Stein first saw it and decided to acquire it. Gertrude Stein subsequently sold the work to the Baltimore collector Etta Cone in 1926, but during the intervening years it was seen by countless artists who visited the Stein apartment.
Publication References
Sociéte de Salon d'Automne, "Catalogue de Peinture, Dessin, Sculpture, Gravure, Architecture et Arts Décoratifs exposes au Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées," Paris: Sociéte de Salon d'Automne, 1904, p. 107.
Maurice Denis, "Cézanne," "Kunstbladet," November 1909, p. 281, ill. (published as "Figurkomposition").
Albert Dreyfus, "Paul Cézanne," "Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst," 1913, vol. XXIV, no. 9, p. 199, ill. (published as "Akte in Landschaft").
Ambroise Vollard, "Paul Cézanne," Paris: Galerie A. Vollard, 1915, p. 146, pl. 48, ill.
Ambroise Vollard, "Paul Cézanne: Huit Phototypies d'après Cézanne," Paris: Les Éditions G. Crès et Cie, 1919, p. 48, ill.
Ambroise Vollard, "Paul Cézanne: Huit Phototypies d'Après Cézanne" Paris: Les Éditions G. Crès et Cie, 1924, p. 49, ill.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Cone Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1930, pp.5, 8, no. 1, ill.
"In the Cone Collection at the Museum Next Month," "The Baltimore Sun," March 23, 1930, p. P2, ill.
Etta Cone, "The Cone Collection of Baltimore-Maryland," Baltimore: Etta Cone, 1934, p. 23, pl. 23, ill. (published as "Les Baigneurs").
Lionello Venturi, "Cézanne: Son Art-Son Oeuvre," Paris: Paul Rosenberg Éditeur, 1936, pp. 221, 393, no. 724, pl. 238, ill. (published as "Les Baigneurs").
Baltimore Museum of Art, "A Century of Baltimore Collecting 1840-1940," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1941, p. 79.
Jane Watson Crane, "Baltimore Shows French Art," "The Washington Post," August 17, 1947, p. L5.
George Boas, Adelyn D. Breeskin and J.G. D'Arcy Paul, "Selections from the Cone Collection," "News of The Baltimore Museum of Art," October 1949, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 11, 13, no. 5, ill.
"$3,000,000 Art Collection," "Look Magazine," April 25, 1950, vol. 14, no. 9, p. 105, ill.
"Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta, Collectors," "Art News," vol. XLVIII, no. 9, January 1950, p. 40.
Doris Brian, "The Baltimore Museum's Cone Collection: A Pointed Star," "The Art Digest," January 15, 1950, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 7, 8, ill. p. 7.
Gertrude Rosenthal, "Cone Memorial Exhibition," "News of The Baltimore Museum of Art," January-February, 1950, vol. XIII, nos. 4, 5, p. 13.
Clive Bell, "Modern French Painting: The Cone Collection," Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1951, pp. 10, 13, p. 10, ill.
Henry McBride, "Pictures for a Picture of Gertrude," "Art News," February 1951, vol. XLIX, no. 10, p. 18, ill.
Gertrude Rosenthal, "From Ingres to Gauguin: French Nineteenth Century Paintings Owned in Maryland," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1951, pp. 13, 41, no. 149.
Yale University Art Gallery, "Pictures for a Picture of Gertrude stein as a Collector and Writer on Art and Artists," New Haven: Yale University Press, 1951, pp. 21-22, no. 6, ill.
Maurice Raynal, "Cézanne," Lausanne: Skira, 1954, pp. 98, 132, 134, p. 98, ill.
Gertrude Rosenthal, "Man and His Years," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 1954, pp. 19, 35, no. 97, ill.
George Boas, Adelyn Breeskin, and Gertrude Rosenthal, "Cone Collection: A Handbook with a Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955, pp. 15, 24, 27, no. 10, ill.
Mary Louise Kemp, "Cézanne's Critics," "News of The Baltimore Museum of Art," December 1957, vol. XXI, no. 2, p. 15, ill.
Leslie Judd Portner, "Worthy Home for Cone Collection," "The Washington Post and Times Herald," August 25, 1957, p. E7.
Elizabeth Sprigge, "Gertrude Stein: Her Life and Work," New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957, pp. vii, 53, n.p. ill.
Eloise Spaeth, "American Art Museums and Galleries: An Introduction to Looking," New York: Harper & Bros, 1960, p. 50.
Barbara Pollack, "The Collectors: Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta Cone," Indianapolis: The Bobbs Merrill Company, Inc., 1962, pp. 214, 216, ill. p. 176.
Henri Dorra, "Years of Ferment: The Birth of Twentieth Century Art 1886-1914," Los Angeles: The UCLA Art Council, 1965, p. 81, no. 1.
Herbert and Marjorie Katz, "Museums, U.S.A.: A History and Guide," New York: Doubleday & Company Inc., 1965, p. 31.
George Boas, Adelyn Breeskin, and Gertrude Rosenthal, "Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings in the Cone Collection," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1967, pp. 17, 19, 65, no. 10, ill.
James R. Mellow, "The Stein Salon was the First Museum of Modern Art," "The New York Times," December 1, 1968, p. 187, ill.
Chuji Ikegami, "Cézanne," Tokyo: Shueisha, 1969, p. 138, pl. 65, ill.
Edward Burns, ed., "Gertrude Stein on Picasso," New York: Liveright, 1970, p. 7, ill.
The Museum of Modern Art, "Four Americans in Paris: The Collections of Gertrude Stein and Her Family," New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1970, pp. 53, 61, 80, 89, 93, 155, pl. 20, ill. pp. 53, 61, 89, 93.
Douglas Cooper, Irene Gordon, Lucile M. Golson, Ellen B. Hirschland, Leon Katz and William Voss Elder, III, "Four Americans in Paris: The Collections of Gertrude Stein and Her Family," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1971, p. 9.
Bennard Perlman, "Art," "Baltimore Magazine," April 1971, p. 82.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Cone Collection from the Baltimore Museum of Art: A Benefit Exhibition at Wildenstein," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1974, no. 3.
Janet Hobhouse, "Everybody Who Was Anybody: A Biography of Gertrude Stein," New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1975, pp. 38, 56, ill. (published as "Grandes Baigneuses").
William S. Lieberman, ed., "Modern Masters: Manet to Matisse," New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1975, pp. 62-63, 263, no. 20, ill.
Pontus Hulten, "Paris-New York," Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, 1977, p. 190, ill.
William Rubin, ed., "Cézanne: The Late Work," New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1977, pp. 44, 381, 397-398, pl. 201, ill.
Leo Steinberg, "Resisting Cézanne: Picasso's 'Three Women',""Art in America," November/December 1978, vol. 66, no. 6, pp. 116, 118, 121, fig. 9, ill.
Israel Rosen, "The Cone Sisters: Myths, Realities and Some Conjectures," "Helicon Nine, the Journal of Women's Arts and Letters," Winter 1983, no. 9, p. 85.
Nicholas Watkins, "Matisse," Oxford: Phaidon, 1984, pp. 85-86, 234, 237, no. 65, ill.
Brenda Richardson, "Dr. Claribel & Miss Etta: The Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1985, pp. 110, 176.
"Asahi Graph Special Issue on Art: Volume Cézanne," Tokyo: Orion Press, 1988, no. 47, ill. (published as "Les Baignuers").
Sidney Geist, "Interpreting Cézanne," Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988, pp. 242-243, 290, 295, pl. 205, ill. (published as "Six Bathers").
Jacques Teboul, "Les Victoires de Cézanne," Paris: Adam Biro, 1988, pp. 90-91, 116, fig. 54, ill. (published as "Baigneurs").
Mary Louise Krumrine, "Paul Cézanne Die Badenden," Basel: Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, 1989, pp. 183, 190, 197, 315, no. 63, pl. 167, ill. (published as "Les Baigneurs").
John Rewald, "Cézanne and America: Dealers, Collectors, Artists and Critics 1891-1921," Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989, pp. 56, 58, 347, fig. 34, ill.
Renate Stendhal, "Gertrude Stein: Ein Leben in Bildern und Texten," Zurich: Arche, 1989, pp. 50, 60, ill.
Elizabeth Cowling and Jennifer Mundy, "On Classic Ground: Picasso, Léger, de Chirico and the New Classicism 1910-1930," London: Tate Gallery, 1990, pp. 69, 260, no. 28, ill.
Carol Vogel, "The Art Market," "The New York Times," June 4, 1993, n.p.
Jay M. Fisher, "Drawings from the Collection of Claribel and Etta Cone at the Baltimore Museum of Art," "Drawing: The International Review published by The Drawing Society," Vol. XVII, No.1, May - June 1995, p. 4.
John Rewald, Walter Feilchenfeldt and Jayne Warman, "The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné," New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996, pp. 302, 514-515, no. 861, ill.
Nobuyuki Senzoku and Akira Tomita, "Matisse and Modern Masters from the Cone Collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art," Tokyo: Brain Trust Inc., 1996, p. 36, fig. 20, ill.
Terence Maloon, "The Classic Cézanne," Sydney, Australia: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1998, p. 183, no. 54, ill.
John O'Brian, "Ruthless Hedonism: The American Reception of Matisse," Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999, pp. 81, 274.
Sona K. Johnston and William R. Johnston, "The Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse," London: Scala Publishers, 2000, pp. 31-32, 155.
Charles Darwent, "Double Vision," "The Independent," June 17, 2001, pp. 20-21, p. 20, ill.
Jay Fisher, "Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta Cone: A Collection of Modern Art for Baltimore," in Rosella Mamoli Zorzi, ed., "Before Peggy Guggenheim: American Woman Art Collectors," Venice: Marsilio, 2001, p. 120.
Diane Tepfer, "Samuel Halpert Art and Life 1884-1930," New York: Millenium Partners, 2001, p. 36, fig. 22, ill.
Donald Miller, "A Coup for Naples," "Naples Daily News," February 4, 2005, p. 7D.
Eik Kahng, ed., "The Repeating Image: Multiples in French Painting from David to Matisse," New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008, pp. 140-141, 142, 197, fig. 14, ill.
Ellen B. Hirschland and Nancy Hirschland Ramage, "The Cone Sisters of Baltimore: Collecting at Full Tilt," Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2008, pp. 112-117, 220, 274, fig. 5.13, ill.
Gail Stavitsky and Katherine Rothkopf, eds., "Cézanne and American Modernism," Montclair, NJ: Montclair Art Museum and The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2009, pp. 25, 45, 82, 84, 92, 94, 99, 160, 239, 322, 323, 349, 360, 369, fig. 3, no.18, ill.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Cézanne and American Modernism," "BMA Today," Winter-Spring 2010, ill. p. 7.
Patricia McDonnell and Emily Stamey, eds., "Art of Our Time: Selections from the Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University," Wichita: Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, 2010, p. 32, ill.
Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow, eds., "The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde," San Francisco: The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2011, pp. 72-73, 363, 369, 372-373, 374, 397, 458, 483, no. 14, pls. 36, 348, 354, 358, 359, ill.
Fillion, Susan. Miss Etta and Dr. Claribel: Bringing Matisse to America. Boston: David R. Godine, 2011, page 63.
Ian Jenkins, "Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art," London: The British Museum Press, 2015, fig. 31, color ill., p. 63.
Stacey B. Epstein, "Alfred Maurer, At the Vanguard of Modernism", Massachusetts: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, 2015, pp. 172, ill.
Editors: Higuchi, Sharbie, Challis Davy, Diane, and Duling, Dan, "Festival of Arts Laguna Beach California: Pageant of the Masters, Official Souvenir Program" California: Summer 2016, pp. 31.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1949; Etta Cone, Baltimore, by purchase, 1926; Gertrude Stein, Paris, 1913/14; Leo and Gertrude Stein, Paris, October 28, 1904; Ambroise Vollard, Paris; Auguste Pellerin, Paris, Ambroise Vollard, Paris, by purchase; the artist
Matisse, Picasso, and the School of Paris
The Repeating Image in French Painting from David to Matisse
Cézanne and American Modernism
Cone Refresh
The Stein Family Collection
Cézanne-Paris-Provence
The Great Workshop of the Midi 1880-1960
A Summer at the Water's Edge: Leisure Activities and Impressionism
Max Weber: Bringing Paris to New York
Cone Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture
Cone Wing Rotations 2020
Cone Wing Rotations 2021
Cone Wing Rotations 2022
Cone Wing Rotations 2023
Cezanne at Jas de Bouffan
Cone Wing Rotations 2024
Cone Wing Rotations 2025
Barbara Rose, "Cezanne: The Autumn Years", Saturday Review, November 26, 1977
Lawrence Gowing, "The True Nature of Cezanne's Bathers", The Journal of Art, April 1991
Lawrence Gowing, "The True Nature of Cezanne's Bathers", The Journal of Art, April 1991
Inscribed: Recto: There are no visible inscriptions on the recto. Verso: The painting has been glue lined and there are no visible inscriptions on the verso.