Cezanne's Bathers as Modernity Totems: Exhibition at Grand Palais

The exhibition "Cezanne et nous" at the Grand Palais in Paris, running from September 23, 2026 to January 17, 2027, explores the profound influence of Paul Cezanne's bathers on modern and contemporary art. Curated by Jean-Rémi Touzet and others, the show positions Cezanne's Baigneuses and Baigneurs as 'totems' of modernity, inspiring artists from Gauguin to Matisse, Picasso, and Malevich. Henri Matisse, who acquired Cezanne's Trois baigneuses (1879-1882) in 1899 from Ambroise Vollard and donated it to the Petit Palais in 1936, wrote of its importance. The exhibition highlights how artists like Émile Bernard, André Derain, and Kasimir Malevich distorted anatomy and rejected conventional beauty, as seen in Bernard's Baigneuses aux nénuphars (1889, Musée d'Orsay) and Derain's Baigneuses (1907, MoMA). Picasso acknowledged Cezanne as 'our father to all' and was influenced by Derain's work during his Demoiselles d'Avignon. Matisse's Nu de dos series (1909-1930) reflects Cezanne's primitivist spirit. Contemporary painter Peter Doig, inspired by a 1942 photo of Robert Mitchum, created three Bathers echoing Cezanne's strange scale and unfinished quality. The exhibition also includes Cezanne's Les Grandes Baigneuses (c.1894-1905, National Gallery, London) and Le Baigneur (1885, MoMA).