Musée d’Orsay · 1898
Still Life with Onions
Paul Cézanne
Cézanne arranges onions, a knife, a bottle, and a glass on a table only half-covered by a white cloth, using still life the way he used every subject late in life — as a problem of pure form, weight, and color rather than a display of everyday objects.
Why it matters
Cézanne arranges onions, a knife, a bottle, and a glass on a table only half-covered by a white cloth, using still life the way he used every subject late in life — as a problem of pure form, weight, and color rather than a display of everyday objects.
Look closer
Look closely and you'll notice the tabletop doesn't quite line up — Cézanne paints the same scene from several slightly different angles at once, decades before Cubist painters would push that idea much further.
Cézanne painted still lifes obsessively throughout his career because, unlike people, onions and bottles never got tired of sitting still — giving him unlimited time to study exactly how light falls on form.
Value context
ELYIO places this work in an indicative editorial context of €30–50 million.
The museum work is not for sale. This is ELYIO indicative context—not an appraisal, insurance value or offer.