Straw-Trimmed Vase, Sugar Bowl and Apples

This arrangement of a straw-covered vase, sugar bowl, and apples from around 1890 is typical of Cézanne's late domestic still lifes. The straw-wrapped vase — likely a Provençal wine bottle or oil container — adds a rustic texture that contrasts with the smooth spheres of the apples and the white geometry of the sugar bowl. Cézanne's Orangerie paintings were bequeathed to the French state by his son, and the group held there represents his mature still life practice at its most considered. Each object in such arrangements is observed from a slightly different viewpoint, creating the multiple-perspective spatial ambiguity that would fascinate twentieth-century painters.

The three objects are studied with equal intensity despite their formal differences. Cézanne renders the straw-wrapped vase with variegated strokes describing both texture and volume. The apples glow in warm reds and yellows, modeled through color rather than conventional shading. A loose cloth beneath grounds the composition.