Bathers Under a Bridge (recto); Study after Houdon’s Ecorché (verso)

Description

Bathers Under a Bridge by Paul Cézanne shows blue-green bathers beneath an arched bridge in pale watercolor. The broad composition connects their bodies with the span above and the trees beyond, letting human figures, architecture and landscape share a loose arrangement. Areas of open paper keep the setting airy, while the concentrated color below the bridge makes the bathers a point of attention within it.

Made between 1900 and 1906, the visible side of the sheet uses watercolor over graphite. The drawing beneath the color gives the forms a framework, while the washes allow the scene to remain open to the surrounding paper. Cézanne’s bathers can be approached through this meeting of line and color, where the figures occupy a setting without every part needing an equally finished surface. The separate anatomical study on the reverse belongs to another side of the sheet.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Paul Cézanne collection.