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The Artist's Canvas . 03 June 2026 . The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L’Estaque . c.1885 . Paul Cezanne . (French, 1839–1906)

In a letter to his friend and teacher Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne compared the view of the sea from L’Estaque to a playing card, with its simple shapes and colors. The landscape’s configuration and color fascinated him. This painting is one of more than a dozen such vistas created by the artist during the 1880s. Cézanne divided the canvas into four zones—architecture, water, mountain, and sky. Although these four elements are seen repeatedly in Impressionist paintings, Cézanne’s work is very different from that of his fellow artists.

Whereas their primary purpose was to record the transient effects of light, Cézanne was interested in the underlying structure and composition of the views he painted. Filling the canvas with shapes defined by strong, contrasting colors and a complex grid of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines, he created a highly compact, dynamic pattern of water, sky, land, and village that at once refers back to traditionally structured landscape paintings and looks forward to the innovations of Cubism. Using blocklike brushstrokes to build the space, Cézanne created a composition that seems both two- and three-dimensional. Not locked tightly in place, his forms appear to touch and shift continually, creating a sense of volume and space that strengthens the composition and brings it to life.

Artist: Paul Cezanne Title: The Bay of Marseille, Seen from L'Estaque Place: France (Artist's nationality) Date: 1880–1890 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 80.2 × 100.6 cm (31 5/8 × 39 5/8 in.); Framed: 107.4 × 127.4 × 10.5 cm (42 1/4 × 50 1/8 × 4 1/8 in.) Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection Reference Number: 1933.1116

#the artist's canvas #camille pissarro #paul cezanne

The Artist's Canvas . 02 June 2026 . Still Life with a Ginger Jar and Eggplants . 1893-94 . Paul Cézanne . French .

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 826

For this commanding still life, with its richly orchestrated play of overlapping shapes, patterns, colors, and textures, Cézanne relied on a stock of familiar objects. The raffia-corded ginger jar, for example, is featured in more than a dozen compositions, including three of comparable verve dating to the early 1890s. Still Life with a Ginger Jar and Eggplants, Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence), Oil on canvas

Title: Still Life with a Ginger Jar and Eggplants Artist: Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence) Date: 1893–94 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 28 1/2 x 36 in. (72.4 x 91.4 cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960 Object Number: 61.101.4 Curatorial Department: European Paintings

#the artist's canvas #paul cezanne

Dustbin of Life . 02 June 2026 . Things Change

It’s in the Attic… Go Look for Yourself

Over the years we have seen many things go through transitions, most simply get older. But some have a lifespan that most often is relegated to the attic where years of dust collects and when the owner passes on, the heirs unwrap the dusty carcasses and find treasure. But others get repurposed.

The following was actually begun by Phil Oldham [Class of 1961] by commenting on a Serendipity A.I. post: “Remember when we raged against going from classic instruments to electronic.” Simply put, some things have changed our lives, while other things have fallen by the wayside. The list grows daily:

1. Acoustics: Lutes, Harps, Guitars, Sitars transitioned to Electronic 2. Wind Instruments followed and became EWI’s 3. Telephone Operators like Ernestine [Lily Tomlin] became number sequences, rotary dials, handsets, desktop sets, Dick Tracy watches, pagers, flip phones, earpieces, apple watches, beam me up Scotties. 4. Abacuses got hand cranks and paper tapes for a CPA to keep your “Books”, calculators, cash registers, computers, desktops, pads and pods 5. Cameras on Tripods, Hand held with film cartridges, Development Kiosks in Parking Lots, Single Lens Reflex, Electronic SLR, Cellphone, Selfies, Surveillance

#dustbin of life

The Artist's Canvas . 01 June 2026 . At the Moulin Rouge . 1892–95 . Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901)

Café-concerts were popular venues for drinking and entertainment in late nineteenth-century Paris and attracted the interest of artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The Moulin Rouge, which opened in 1889, was the most famous of the café-concerts, and Toulouse-Lautrec was a habitué of the establishment—he even had a permanently reserved table. His painting Equestrienne (1887–88), now also in the Art Institute’s collection, was acquired by the owner of the nightclub as decoration for the lobby.

At the Moulin Rouge is a cleverly observed group portrait of the (in some cases) infamous customers and entertainers who formed part of the artist’s circle. Standing in the background, the dancer La Goulue arranges her hair. Seated at the table are dancers La Macarona and Jane Avril, as well as photographer Paul Sescau, poet Édouard Dujardin, and vintner Maurice Guibert. Singer May Milton peers out from the right edge of the painting, her face harshly lit and a shocking acid green—the Moulin Rouge was designed to have electric lighting and Toulouse-Lautrec reveled in the artistic possibilities of artificial glare. The artist himself appears in the center background of the painting, a diminutive figure accompanied by his much taller cousin, the physician Gabriel Tapié de Céleyran.

Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Title: At the Moulin Rouge Place: France (Artist's nationality) Date: 1892–1895 Medium: Oil on canvas Inscriptions: Stamped lower left with monogram Dimensions: 123 × 141 cm (48 7/16 × 55 1/2 in.); Framed: 136.9 × 154.7 × 8.5 cm (53 7/8 × 60 7/8 × 3 5/16 in.) Credit Line: Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection Reference Number: 1928.610

#the artist's canvas #henri toulouse-lautrec #moulin rouge

The Artist's Canvas . 31 May 2026 . Te burao . (The Hibiscus Tree) . 1892 . Paul Gauguin (French, 1848–1903)

Completed early in Paul Gauguin’s first Tahitian sojourn, this landscape shows the artist grappling with representing an unfamiliar environment. Rather than documenting botanical species scientifically, Gauguin focused on the artistic potential of their variegated colors, textures, and forms. The human figure in the distance and the dog roaming through fallen branches activate the landscape and establish a sense of scale.

This is one of thirty-five works that comprise the Winterbotham Collection.

Artist: Paul Gauguin Title: Te burao (The Hibiscus Tree) Place: France (Artist's nationality) Date: 1892 Medium: Oil on canvas Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right: Te Burao P. Gauguin 92 Dimensions: 68 × 90.7 cm (26 3/4 × 35 11/16 in.); Framed: 86.4 × 109.3 × 8.9 cm (34 × 43 × 3 1/2 in.) Credit Line: Joseph Winterbotham Collection Reference Number: 1923.308

#the artist's canvas #paul gauguin

Man's Impact on the Environment . 31 May 2026 . Trolltunga . Ullensvang Municipality . Vestland County . Norway . The Devil's Tongue

Trolltunga (lit. 'the troll tongue') is a rock formation situated at an elevaton of 1,126 metres (3,694 ft) above sea level in Ullensvang Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The cliff juts horizontally out from the mountain, about 700 metres (2,300 ft) above the north side of the lake Ringedalsvatnet.

Popularity of the hike to Trolltunga and rock formation itself has exploded in recent years. The increased popularity has turned Trolltunga into a national icon and a major tourist attraction for the region. Until 2010, fewer than 800 people hiked to Trolltunga each year. In 2016, more than an estimated 80,000 people hiked the 27-kilometre (17 mi) round-trip from the village of Skjeggedal, making it one of Norway's most popular hikes.

This is a very challenging hike, at least 10 hours on rough terrain. There are no shelters on the hike route and no places to buy supplies. However, there is a plan to build a lodge roughly halfway where hikers can rest. There are two emergency cabins along the trail.

#trolltunga #troll tongue #devils tongue

The Artist's Canvas . 30 My 2026 . Beach at Cabasson (Baigne-Cul) . 1891–92 . Henri Edmond Cross (French, 1856–1910)

In 1891, as a result of his rheumatoid arthritis, Henri Edmond Cross moved to Cabasson, a hamlet on the Côte d’Azur in southeastern France. The move deeply affected his art: after settling on the Mediterranean coast, he embraced the divided brushwork (small dashes and dots of color) and tonal gradations of “scientific Impressionism.” This methodical technique was a departure from the Impressionists’ more intuitive quick strokes of color to capture fleeting atmospheric conditions. In this beach scene, Cross used this more systematic paint application to convey the color and heat of his adopted region.

Artist: Henri Edmond Cross Title: Beach at Cabasson (Baigne-Cul) Place: France (Artist's nationality) Date: 1891–1892 Medium: Oil on canvas Inscriptions: Inscribed lower left: henri Edmond Cross Dimensions: 65.3 × 92.3 cm (25 3/4 × 36 3/8 in.); Framed: 82.6 × 108.6 × 6.4 cm (32 1/2 × 42 3/4 × 2 1/2 in.) Credit Line: L. L. and A. S. Coburn, and Bette and Neison Harris funds; Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection; through prior acquisition of the Kate L. Brewster Collection Reference Number: 1983.513

#the artist's canvas #henri edmond cross

The Artist's Canvas . 29 May 2026 . The Card Players . 1890-92 . Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence) . Oil on canvas

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 826

Cézanne was in his fifties when he undertook a painting campaign devoted to giving memorable form to a subject that inspired the likes of Caravaggio and Chardin. He was determined from the start—as we see in this sturdy Provençal scene—to make it his own. Cézanne carefully crafted this composition from figure studies he had made of local farmhands. Once he had puzzled-out his conception, he continued to fine-tune the poses and positions of the card players, until they—like the four pipes hanging on the wall behind them—each fell perfectly into place. Cézanne channeled the quiet authority he achieved here into a much larger variant (Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia) and punctuated the series with three works in which he pared away extraneous details to focus his gaze on a pair of players.

Title: The Card Players Artist: Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence) Date: 1890–92 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 25 3/4 x 32 1/4 in. (65.4 x 81.9 cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960 Object Number: 61.101.1 Curatorial Department: European Paintings

#the artist's canvas #paul cezanne

The Artist's Canvas . 28 May 2026 . Tahitian Landscape . 1892 . Paul Gauguin (French, Paris 1848–1903 . Atuona . Hiva Oa . Marquesas Islands) . Oil on canvas

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 825 Although the authorship of this picture was once questioned, cleaning and reexamination have securely demonstrated that it is one of a group of landscapes that Gauguin painted during his first Tahitian sojourn, showing small figures and a hut amid tropical greenery. There are drawings related to the couple and the horse in this picture, attesting to the artist’s eye for local detail. This was the first painting by Gauguin to enter the Metropolitan’s collection, by donation in 1939.

Title: Tahitian Landscape Artist: Paul Gauguin (French, Paris 1848–1903 Atuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands) Date: 1892 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 25 3/8 x 18 5/8 in. (64.5 x 47.3 cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: Anonymous Gift, 1939 Object Number: 39.182 Curatorial Department: European Paintings

#the artist's canvas #paul gauguin

The Artist's Canvas . 27 May 2026 . Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque) . 1887-88 . Georges Seurat (French, Paris 1859–1891 Paris) . Oil on canvas

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 825 At the Salon des Indépendants in 1888 Seurat demonstrated the versatility of his technique by exhibiting Circus Sideshow, a nighttime outdoor scene in artificial light, and Models, an indoor, daylight scene (Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia). This is Seurat’s first nocturnal painting and the first to depict popular entertainment. It represents the parade, or sideshow, of the Circus Corvi at the annual Gingerbread Fair, held in eastern Paris around the place de la Nation, in spring 1887. Sideshows were staged outside the circus tent, for free, to entice passersby to purchase tickets. The onlookers at the far right are queued on stairs leading to the box office.

Title: Circus Sideshow (Parade de cirque) Artist: Georges Seurat (French, Paris 1859–1891 Paris) Date: 1887–88 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 39 1/4 x 59 in. (99.7 x 149.9 cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960 Object Number: 61.101.17 Curatorial Department: European Paintings

#the artist's canvas #georges seurat

The Artist's Canvas . 26 May 2026 . Les Andelys, Côte d’Aval . 1886 . Paul Signac (French, 1863-1935)

This view of the harbor of Les Andelys, a village on the Seine River near Giverny, France, is part of Paul Signac’s first series of works painted in dots and dashes of contrasting colors. The technique, called pointillism, was originated by Signac’s friend Georges Seurat. Signac would prove to be the most ardent proponent of this style, which he made his own through particular attention to geometric form. Here, for example, a triangular patch of blue creates a curve in the river, while an expanse of trapezoids in the background defines the cultivated hill.

Artist: Paul Signac Title: Les Andelys, Côte d'Aval Place: France (Artist's nationality) Date: 1886 Medium: Oil on canvas Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right: P. Signac. 86 Dimensions: 60 × 92 cm (23 5/8 × 36 1/4 in.); Framed: 77.5 × 109.6 × 6.4 cm (30 1/2 × 43 1/8 × 2 1/2 in.) Credit Line: Through prior gift of William Wood Prince Reference Number: 1993.208

#the artist's canvas #paul signac #georges seurat

The Artist's Canvas . 25 May 2026 . Gardanne . Paul Cézanne . French . 1885–86 . Oil on Canvas

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 826

This is one of three views of Gardanne, a hill town near Aix-en-Provence where Cézanne worked from the summer of 1885 through the spring of 1886. The steeple of the local church crowns the cluster of red-roofed buildings which animate the sloping terrain. Faceted and geometric, the structures anticipate early-twentieth-century Cubism.

Title: Gardanne Artist: Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence) Date: 1885–86 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 31 1/2 x 25 1/4 in. (80 x 64.1 cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Franz H. Hirschland, 1957 Object Number: 57.181 Curatorial Department: European Paintings

#the artist's canvas #paul cezanne

The Artist's Canvas . 24 May 2026 . Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley . 1882-85 . Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence) . Oil on canvas

Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley Paul Cézanne French 1882–85

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 826

The distinctive silhouette of Mont Saint-Victoire rises above the Arc River valley near the town of Aix. To paint this scene, Cézanne stood close to Montbriand, his sister’s property, at the top of the hill just behind her house; the wall of the neighboring farmhouse is barely visible. Cézanne sought to reveal the inner geometry of nature, "to make of Impressionism something solid and durable, like the art of museums." Indeed the railroad viaduct that cuts through this pastoral scene is evocative of a Roman aqueduct, recalling paintings by Nicolas Poussin.

Title: Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley Artist: Paul Cézanne (French, Aix-en-Provence 1839–1906 Aix-en-Provence) Date: 1882–85 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 25 3/4 x 32 1/8 in. (65.4 x 81.6 cm) Classification: Paintings Credit Line: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 Object Number: 29.100.64

#the artist's canvas #paul cezanne

Serendipity A.I. . 24 May 2026 . Lindsey Stirling WannaBees . Source : bvg-1967

#serendipity a.i.

Serendipity A.I. . 24 May 2026 . Modes of Transportation . Source : Lenole Art . bvg-1967

#serendipity a.i.

The Artist's Canvas . 23 May 2026 . A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884 . 1884–86 . Border added 1888–89 . Georges Seurat . (French, 1859–1891)

In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Ferris’s best friend Cameron Frye intensely studies this nearly ten-foot-wide painting during a scene set at the Art Institute. Featuring people of every age and social class on the banks of the River Seine, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884 has captivated visitors ever since its arrival at the museum in 1924.

If we, like Cameron, come closer to the painting, figures and forms dissolve into dots and dashes of complementary colors laid side by side, characteristic of Seurat’s pointillist technique. Many smaller painted and drawn sketches and several larger canvases, in which Seurat laid out the parameters for the landscape and figures, led up to this majestically composed scene. Seurat returned to the work two years after its start date, amplifying the silhouettes of some figures and adding others. Some of these, like the monkey on the leash, seem so integral to the final composition that it is hard to imagine them as add-ons, but others, like the man carrying a rolled newspaper in the furthest distance, are barely noticeable. To the artist, however, every decision was essential to his aim of making a painting of modern life equivalent to a classical Greek frieze.

Artist: Georges Seurat Title: A Sunday on La Grande Jatte — 1884 Place: France (Artist's nationality) Date: 1884–1886 Medium: Oil on canvas Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right: Seurat Dimensions: 207.5 × 308.1 cm (81 3/4 × 121 1/4 in.) Credit Line: Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection Reference Number: 1926.224

#the artist's canvas #georges seurat

The Artist's Canvas . 22 May 2026 . Water Lily Pond . 1900 . Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926)

In 1893, three years after buying property at Giverny, Claude Monet began transforming the marshy ground behind his home into a pond, on the narrow end of which he built a Japanese-style wood bridge. Adding both exotic and domestic plantings, including his famous water lilies, the artist created the garden that would be one of his principal subjects for the rest of his life. Water Lily Pond was among the 18 similar versions of the motif that he made in 1899–1900; their common theme was the mingling of the lilies with reflections of other vegetation on the pool’s surface.

Artist: Claude Monet Title: Water Lily Pond Place: France (Artist's nationality) Date: 1900 Medium: Oil on canvas Inscriptions: Inscribed upper left: Claude Monet / 1900 Dimensions: 89.8 × 101 cm (35 3/8 × 39 3/4 in.); Framed: 112.4 × 122.6 × 10.2 cm (44 1/4 × 48 1/4 × 4 in.) Credit: Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection Reference Number: 1933.441

#the artist's canvas #claude monet

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