"Still Life with Carafe, Bottle, and Fruit
“Still Life with Carafe, Bottle, and Fruit” (c. 1906) is important to understanding Cézanne’s developing path to cubism for two reasons: it is not just another forest scene so therefore it proves that Cézanne used these techniques in several forms of subject matter and it was not just an isolated experiment within the forest and because it is known to be one of his last three watercolors, as well as paintings, ever. While very different than his landscapes, this watercolor still has very convincing connection to Cubism. It is so important since it is not nature, Cezanne’s passion and yet there still exists an architectonic schematizaton, basic geometric forms, and a turn towards abstraction. Like his still lives before this, there is no distinct perspective. In fact, there are several of them and many varying viewpoints producing the feeling that objects are momentarily going to fall of the table while simultaneously seeing as though they are completely stationary. The idea of slowing down exists in this painting as well since everything is outlined and sketched over several times, it is difficult to discern at what we are looking or where the objects actually begin and end. The displacement and repetition also is reminiscent of the Cubist movement; the orange-like shape on the left side of the paper, the continuing grapes, the repeated bottom of the carafe. The idea behind this painting that so closely ties it to Cubism is that it was arranged by space and not by sight within the basic bounds of a geomtrisized scene based on shapes and lines.