Pyramid of Skulls

Painting by Paul Cézanne

Pyramid of Skulls

Artist| Paul Cézanne
Year| c.1901
Medium| Oil on canvas
Dimensions| 37 cm × 45.5 cm (15 in × 17.9 in)
Location| Private collection

Pyramid of Skulls is a c. 1901 oil on canvas painting by French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Cézanne. It depicts four human skulls stacked in a pyramidal formation, a subject matter that increasingly preoccupied Cézanne in later life.

## Background

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Working in isolation in the last decade of his life, Cézanne frequently alluded to mortality in his letters: "For me, life has begun to be deathly monotonous"; "As for me, I'm old. I won't have time to express myself"; and "I might as well be dead."[1] It is possible that the death of his mother on October 25, 1897—she had been a protective and supportive influence—accelerated his meditations on mortality, a subject which had obsessed the artist since the late 1870s, but did not find pictorial form for another twenty years.[2] Cézanne's health started to deteriorate at the same time.[2]

Cézanne's preoccupation with death was an ongoing theme that can be identified in a number of still life skull paintings that he produced between 1898 and 1905. These paintings, produced in both oils and watercolour, offer a more subtle representation of the traditional theme of vanitas.[2]

## Description

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Pyramid of Skulls is an oil on canvas painting produced in 1901. The subject matter was depicted in a pale light against a dark background. The composition is notable for the closeness of the skulls to the viewer.[3]

Paul Cézanne. Three Skulls, 1902–1906, graphite and watercolor on paper. Art Institute of Chicago.

Cézanne's interest in the subject may have had roots in thoughts other than the contemplation of death. He could have been drawn to the skulls' volumetric forms, just as he was to those of fruits and vases, and he supposedly exclaimed "How beautiful a skull is to paint!"[2] They also share physical similarities with his self-portrayals: "the skulls confront the viewer straight-on in a manner reminiscent of the artist's portraits."[4] In both sets of works the mass of the cranium is emphasized: in the self-portraits the lower half of his face is obscured by his beard, while the skulls lack lower jaws altogether. In both series attention is focused on the round pate and eye sockets.[5]

There would have been further reason for the subject to interest Cézanne: skulls were prominent in the homes of Catholics, and Cézanne was a devout Catholic knowledgeable in ancient Christian texts. Human skulls had also long been common accessories in artists' studios.[2] Indeed, the contents of Cézanne's studio were known to include "three skulls, (and) an ivory Christ on an ebony cross" near one another on the mantelpiece.[2]

Joachim Gasquet, a friend of the artist, later recalled:[2]

> On his last mornings he clarified this idea of death into a heap of bony brainpans to which the eyeholes added a bluish notion. I can still hear him reciting to me, one evening along the Arc River, the quatrain by Verlaine:

>     For in this lethargic world
>     Perpetually prey to old remorse
>     The only laughter to still make sense
>     Is that of death's heads.

Pyramid of Skulls was painted at Cézanne's studio in Aix, where he worked prior to his move into the new Les Lauves studio in September 1902.[4] A visitor to the studio in July 1902 wrote: "In his bedroom, on a narrow table in the middle, I noticed three human skulls facing one another, three beautiful polished ivories. He spoke of a very good painted study that was somewhere in the attic. I wanted to see it." But Cézanne could not find the key to the garret, and blamed his maid for its misplacement.[4]

A watercolor study, Three Skulls, at the Art Institute of Chicago, is similar in composition, though relatively more graceful in handling.[6]

## Significance and legacy

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Art historian Françoise Cachin remarked that, "these bony visages all but assault the viewer, displaying an assertiveness very much at odds with the usual reserve of domestic still-life tableaux."[4]

Cézanne's skull studies served as inspiration for 20th-century artists like Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.[1]

## Other paintings of the skulls by Cézanne

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* Still Life with Skull, Candle and Book, 1865–1867, Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland. An earlier painting, more consistent with the traditional theme of vanitas.

* Young Man with a Skull, 1896-1898

* Still Life with a Skull, 1895–1900, The Barnes Foundation

* Still Life, Three Skulls, c. 1900, Detroit Institute of Arts

* Three Skulls on a Rug, c. 1904, Private Collection

## See also

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* List of paintings by Paul Cézanne
* Skull Tower
* The Huey Tzompantli was a structure of several racks of skulls in Tenochtitlan.

## Sources

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* Adriani, Götz. Cézanne Paintings. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995. ISBN 0-8109-4026-4
* Cachin, Françoise, et al. Cézanne. Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1996. ISBN 0-87633-100-2

## References

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1. ^ a b Adriani, 254
2. ^ a b c d e f g Cachin, et al, 490
3. ^ Kiroff, Blagoy (2015-07-09). Cezanne: Paintings (Colour Plates). Osmora Incorporated. ISBN 978-2-7659-1537-9.
4. ^ a b c d Cachin, et al, 491
5. ^ Cachin, et al, 492-493
6. ^ Cachin, et al, 493

* v
* t
* e

Paul Cézanne

Paintings|

* List of paintings
* The Negro Scipion (1867)
* The Overture to Tannhäuser (1869)
* L'Estaque, Melting Snow (c. 1871)
* The Hanged Man's House (1873)
* A Modern Olympia (c. 1873-1874)
* L'Après-midi à Naples (c. 1876)
* The Eternal Feminine (c. 1877)
* View of Auvers-sur-Oise (1879–80)
* Three Bathers (1879–1882)
* Portrait of Louis Guillaume (1879–1882)
* Mont Sainte-Victoire and the Viaduct of the Arc River Valley (1882–1885)
* Chestnut Trees and Farm at Jas de Bouffan (c. 1884)
* Mont Sainte-Victoire seen from Bellevue (1885)
* House in Provence (1885)
* Chestnut Trees and Farm at Jas de Bouffan (c. 1886)
* Mont Sainte-Victoire with Large Pine (c. 1887)
* Portrait of Madame Cézanne with Loosened Hair (1883–1887)
* The Banks of the Marne (1888)
* Pierrot and Harlequin (1888–1890)
* Still Life with Peaches and Pears (1888–1890)
* View of the Domaine Saint-Joseph (late 1880s)
* The Basket of Apples (c. 1893)
* Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier (1893–1894)
* The Boy in the Red Vest (1894–1895)
* Portrait of Gustave Geffroy (1895)
* Bridge Across a Pond (1895–1898)
* Seated Peasant (c. 1892–1896)
* Portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1899)
* Pipe Smoker Leaning on a Table (1895–1900)
* Still Life with Apples and Oranges (c. 1899)
* Women Bathing (c. 1900)
* Lady in Blue (c. 1900)
* Pyramid of Skulls (1901)
* Forest (1902–1904)
* The Bunch of Flowers (1902–1904)
* The Bathers (1898–1905)
* Still Life with Teapot (1902–1906)
* La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue du bosquet du Château Noir (1904)

Series|

* The Card Players (1890–1895)
* Mont Sainte-Victoire (1904–1906)

Family|

* Marie-Hortense Fiquet (model and wife)

Museums|

* Cézanne's studio

Related|

* Homage to Cézanne (1900 painting)
* The Impressionists (2006 series)
* Cézanne and I (2016 film)
* Cézanne (crater)
* Corbarimys cezannei

* v
* t
* e

Death and mortality in art

Themes|

* All flesh is grass
* Carpe diem
* Consolatio
* Danse Macabre
* Death and the Maiden
* Lamentation of Christ
* Macabre
* Memento mori
* Mono no aware
* Sic transit gloria mundi
* Ubi sunt
* Personifications of death
* Vanitas

Forms|

| Architecture|

* Cenotaph
* Memorial
* Tomb

|

Music|

* Funeral march
* Requiem

Poetry|

* Death poem
* Dirge
* Elegy
* Elegiac
* Pastoral elegy
* Keening
* Lament
* Obituary poetry
* Threnody

Prose|

* Epitaph
* Funerary text
* Tragedy

Visual arts|

* Calavera
* Funerary art
* Cadaver monument
* Death mask
* Gravestone
* Post-mortem photography
* Wreath

Other|

* Mummy

Artwork|

| Architecture|

* Capela dos Ossos
* Capuchin Crypt
* Catacombs of Paris
* Sedlec Ossuary
* Skull Chapel
* Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo

|

Film|

* The Seventh Seal

Music|

* Danse macabre
* Death and Transfiguration
* Der Tod und das Mädchen
* Erlkönig
* Totentanz

Painting|

* Et in Arcadia ego
* Guercino
* Poussin
* Death and Fire
* Death and Life
* Death and the Maiden
* Death and the Miser
* Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
* La Calavera Catrina
* Plague
* Pyramid of Skulls
* Roman Widow
* Self-Portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle
* Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette
* Sleep and His Half-Brother Death
* The Ambassadors
* The Garden of Death
* The Shadow of Death
* The Three Ages of Man and Death
* The Triumph of Death

Poetry|

* "And death shall have no dominion"
* "Because I could not stop for Death"
* "Erlkönig"
* "Do not go gentle into that good night"

Prose|

* Ars moriendi
* Bardo Thodol
* Book of Job
* Book of the Dead
* Left Ginza
* Hamlet's soliloquy
* The Masque of the Red Death

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