Author, Kate Walbert: Bliss was once asked how she came to appreciate such "outlandish pictures," like Cézanne, and she responded, succinctly, "Modern music."
Curator, Romy Silver-Kohn: She was interested in music and art that emphasized originality and personal expression. Bliss may have been drawn to Cézanne because of this dual nature of his as someone who respected tradition but simultaneously sought to move past it. Still Life with Apples is a very traditional subject matter, but the way he depicts the objects on the table and the table itself is what becomes so revolutionary. He was more interested in how something made him feel.
I also think that Still Life with Apples, and Cézanne more generally, represent Bliss finding her own freedom and independence.
Bliss's Niece, Elizabeth Bliss Parkinson Cobb: When her mother died, my father said to her, “Now you'll come and live with us.” And she said, “I wouldn't think of coming to live with you. I'm going to live for the first time in my life.”
Kate Walbert: She built a lavish 18-room, 11,500-square-foot triplex on Park Avenue and 84th Street. She was going to show everything she had collected over the years. Cézanne's Still Life with Apples was over the large grand piano, so she was putting her two passions—music and modern art—physically, front and center of the gallery, which she actually called the music room.