永遠の女性

For a painter who spent his later life quietly rebuilding apples and a Provencal mountain, this is a startling picture. Cezanne made it around 1877, still in his 30s and in the wild, dark vein of his early work, before he cooled into the patient landscapes he's known for. A naked woman sits enthroned on a bed beneath a canopy, and a crowd of men presses toward her: a bishop, a painter at his easel, men with money and trumpets, all worshipping. Her eyes look blank, even bloodied in some readings. It is a raw, half-mocking fantasy about desire and what men chase, painted loosely and fast. The Getty in Los Angeles bought it, and it stands well apart from the still lifes that made his name.