Paul Cezanne laboured at his skull paintings for around fifteen years, some pleased him but he seemed unhappy with the pyramid of skulls, trying hard to get some realism. In the last ten years of his life he worked upon the topic over and over again. It was a period in time where many of the props he used in his paintings were used. Apples, pears, a curtain from his Paris studio, books, a brass candlestick and napkins.
Most people see the skull in Cezanne’s late work as a sign of mortality coming in, showing a man in the final years and looking at memento mori.
Still Life with Skull
Still Life with Skull, 1885
Still Life with Skull, study, 1885
Still Life with Skull, 1902–04
Still Life with Skull, 1902–04
Still Life with Skull
Still Life with Skull
