THE COLLECTION
Boy in a Red Vest
Paul Cézanne (French, 1839-1906)
1888-90. Oil on canvas, 32 x 25 5/8" (81.2 x 65 cm). Fractional gift of Mr. and Mrs. David Rockefeller
190.1955
Cézanne to Picasso: Paintings from the David and Peggy Rockefeller Collection
July 17–August 31, 2009
Though Cézanne rarely hired professional models, an Italian named Michelangelo di Rosa was the subject for this work—one in a series of four paintings and two watercolors he made of this boy in a red vest. Di Rosa is seen here in profile, casually hunched over with his hands on his lap. The short brushstrokes and triangular composition of the work provide a sense of volume and underscore the monumental stability of the figure. In one account, the painting's first owner, the artist Claude Monet, referred to Boy in a Red Vest as the best picture he owned, and it inspired him to declare of his contemporary, "Cézanne is the greatest of us all."
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