Classic Paitings

Philadelphia Museum of Art Collection

•Landscape at Auvers FZ02679

Picturesque and Tranquil Scenery

The “Landscape at Auvers” vase draws its inspiration from Paul Cézanne’s painting “Quartier Four, Auvers-sur- Oise (Landscape, Auvers), 1873”. In 1873, Cézanne, the father of modern art, experimented with new methods of representing the natural world, delineating structures in the landscape with broad planes of color and rendering the village of Auvers, seen over an ocher wall, in dense, angular brushstrokes of solid color. The “Landscape at Auvers” vase features an undulating opening (mouth) and soft, delicate lines, with layers of color stacking up in flat, solid brushstrokes to portray a beautiful, animated village scene in brilliant colors.

Henri-Julien-Félix Rousseau was a self-taught artist, who lacked formal training in painting and did not exhibit his works at independent salons until the age of 42. In his painting “Landscape with Cattle, 1885 ~1900”, Rousseau enlarged the cattle with disregard for conventional perspective, creatively demonstrating a new painting style as a result. Franz designers feature the cattle in this painting – with them delicately sculptured on the vase in a three-dimensional way together with the clearly painted serene village scene in the original; this porcelain piece shows a village landscape with green grass.