Les Baigneurs (Large Plate)

Paul Cézanne's "Les Baigneurs" (The Bathers), created between 1896 and 1897, is a significant color lithograph that exemplifies the artist's innovative approach to printmaking and his enduring fascination with the bather theme. It was produced using transfer lithography, whereby the composition is drawn onto specially prepared paper before being transferred to either a stone or zinc plate. The artist's innovative process involved painting in watercolor over a black-and-white proof, before handing it over to master printer Auguste Clot to translate his colors into print. The composition features male figures suspended in swirls of vegetation, with bold contours and robust forms creating a rigorous pictorial structure. It forms part of Cézanne's larger body of work exploring the bather theme, which comprises over 200 works created across two decades. It not only reflects Cézanne's mastery of form, color, and composition but also represents his interest in the boundary between traditional representation and nascent abstraction, significantly influencing the development of modern art.