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A row of structures and a massive weeping willow tree line the clay-orange riverbank opposite us in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is painted loosely with long, visible brushstrokes. Taking up much of the right side of the painting, the tree has emerald, moss, fern, and olive-green leaves with brown and purple trunk and roots. It casts long, gently rippling reflections in the water. The structures to our left are enclosed behind a terracotta-colored wall with a square tower. A second segment of wall, to our left, is charcoal gray. Trees grow up behind the structures. The sky above is painted with mingled strokes of lavender purple, baby blue, and white.
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A row of structures and a massive weeping willow tree line the clay-orange riverbank opposite us in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is painted loosely with long, visible brushstrokes. Taking up much of the right side of the painting, the tree has emerald, moss, fern, and olive-green leaves with brown and purple trunk and roots. It casts long, gently rippling reflections in the water. The structures to our left are enclosed behind a terracotta-colored wall with a square tower. A second segment of wall, to our left, is charcoal gray. Trees grow up behind the structures. The sky above is painted with mingled strokes of lavender purple, baby blue, and white.

National Gallery of Art · Painting

Banks of the Seine at Médan

Paul Cezanne

Date
c. 1885/1890
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 73 x 92.3 cm (28 3/4 x 36 5/16 in.) framed: 120 x 101.3 x 10.8 cm (47 1/4 x 39 7/8 x 4 1/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Accession number
1970.17.21
Credit line
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection
Time span
1876 to 1900
Department
CF
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • painted surface
  • French
  • France
  • landscape
  • French Paintings of the Nineteenth Century. Part II: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
  • Waterway
  • Post-Impressionist
Provenance

(Ambroise Vollard [1866-1939], Paris); sold 31 July 1926 to Dr. Gottlieb Friedrich [1880-1959] and and Erna [née Sander, 1885-1969] Reber, Lugano, and (Galerie Thannhauser, Lucerne); on consignment from 4 August 1927 to D. Pagenstecher, Wiesbaden; sold 1951 to (Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zürich); sold 1955 to a private collection, from which it was returned 1964 to (Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zürich); sold 15 January 1964 to (M. Knoedler & Co., London, New York and Paris);[1] sold 13 June 1964 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], New York; bequest 1970 to NGA. [1] Provenance provided by Walter Feilchenfeldt in a letter dated 21 October 2000, in NGA curatorial files. The picture was exhibited at Thannhauser Gallery's first exhibition in Berlin in 1927. Pagenstecher is included in the provenance in Venturi's 1936 catalogue raisonné.

NGA object ID 52165. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.