Inspiration from the Masters

Drawings we can talk about and learn from. (As if there were any drawings we could NOT talk about and learn from!)

Untitled sketch of Madame Cézanne

1888/1891

Graphite on Wove Paper

National Gallery of Art, Mellon Collection

To see this larger, just click it. In most browsers, it will open up full screen.

Cezanne apparently sketched all the time. Here is a link to a sketchbook of his that is owned by the National Gallery. It is part of their open access program. To see all 71 of the images in the collection, click this link: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.76227.html

Madame Cézanne (Hortense Fiquet, 1850–1922) in the Conservatory

1891

Oil on Canvas

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Bequest of Stephen C. Clark, 1960

I love Cézanne's muted palette. Often, as here, he seems to be drawing with color.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435875

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This is a sketch drawn by Vincent Van Gogh in a letter, probably to Theo, where he is planning the colors. It's taken from a Daumier drawing at the Musee des Beaux Arts, as he says at the top. April, 1888. Probably pencil but I couldn't find that information.

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This weird looking thing, also a Van Gogh drawing, is something we'll be talking about when we discuss perspective. Look at the picture of one of Van Gogh's landscape paintings, below, to see where he used this device to help him with perspective.

It is not immediately obvious that this painting was influenced by Van Gogh's perspective frame, but we'll talk about it!