The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2025

The Brook

c. 1895–1900
(French, 1839–1906)
France, late 19th-early 20th Century
oil on fabric
Framed: 74.9 x 97.2 x 8.3 cm (29 1/2 x 38 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.); Unframed: 59.2 x 81 cm (23 5/16 x 31 7/8 in.)
Bequest of Leonard C. Hanna Jr. 1958.20
Location: 222 Impressionism & Post-Impressionism

Did You Know?

Cezanne rarely did preparatory sketches for his paintings. The shapes on the canvas are provided by tonal contrasts and color sensation.

Description

Although Cezanne exhibited twice with the Impressionists, he rejected his friends’ goals of capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere in their art. Instead, he sought to create balance among the forms and colors in his compositions. This painting depicts the valley of the Arc River that runs southeast of Cezanne’s home in Aix-en-Provence. Throughout the composition, he juxtaposed strokes of different hues, describing the leaves, branches, and the stream with color rather than drawing the outlines of forms.
  • Ambroise Vollard [1866-1939], Paris, France
    Walther Halvorsen [1887-1972]. Oslo, Norway
    (Galerie Brummer, Paris, France/New York, NY)
    by 1928
    (Galerie Heinemann, Munich, Germany, by 1928, sold to a Private Collection)
    Private Collection, Vienna, Austria
    Robert Treat Paine, Jr., Boston, MA
    by 1939
    Thomas Metcalf, Boston, MA
    (Knoedler Galleries, New York, NY)
    1945
    (Sam Salz, New York, NY, March 12, 1945, sold to Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.)
    1945-1958
    Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. [1889-1957], Cleveland, OH, bequeathed to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1958-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne, Son Art, Son Oeuvre; 1,600 Illustrations. Paris: P. Rosenberg, 1936. Mentioned: vol. 1, p. 233, no. 783; reproduced: vol. 2, pl. 258, no. 783
    Coe, Nancy. The History of the Collecting of European Paintings and Drawings in the City of Cleveland. Thesis M.A. Oberlin College 1955. Reproduced: vol. 2, p. 71
    Cleveland Museum of Art. In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Cleveland: The Museum, 1958. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 4
    "Great Show of French Masters: Cleveland Celebrates Legacy of Hanna Collection." Life 45, no. 8 (August 25, 1958): 41-46. Reproduced: p. 43
    Henning, E. B. “Cleveland Museum of Art: From Turner to Guston.” Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors 78 (December 1963): 481–88. Reproduced: p. 485
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 177 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 177 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Art of the Twentieth Century in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Dept. of Art History & Education, CMA, 1969. Mentioned p. 1 archive.org
    Orienti, Sandra. The Complete Paintings of Cézanne. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1972. Reproduced: p. 120, no. 746
    Reff, Theodore, William Rubin, et. al. Cézanne: The Late Work: Essays. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1977. Mentioned: p. 26; reproduced: p. 273, pl. 70
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 219 archive.org
    Hata, Kōhei, Kazuo Anazawa, and Kunio Motoe. Sezannu. Tokyo: Shōgakkan, Shōwa 54, 1979. Reproduced: fig. 50
    Bourges, M. R. Itinéraires de Cézanne. [Aix-en-Provence]: Ville d'Aix-en-Provence, 1982. Reproduced: La Vallee de l'Arc, fig. 1
    Landau, Ellen G. "Space and Pictorial Life: Hans Hofmann's Smaragd Red and Germinating Yellow." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 72, no. 5 (September 1985): 310-323. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 316, fig. 11
    Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: p. 33
    Adriani, Götz, Paul Cézanne, and Walter Feilchenfeldt. Cezanne: Gemälde. Köln: DuMont, 1993. Referenced: cat. no. 75, Reproduced
    Patin, Sylvie. Cézanne. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1995. Reproduced: p. 76
    Orienti, Sandra. Tout l'Oeuvre Peint de Cézanne. Paris: Flammarion, 1995. Reproduced: p. 120, no. 746
    Rewald, John, Walter Feilchenfeldt, and Jayne Warman. The Paintings of Paul Cézanne: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996. Mentioned: vol. 1, p. 465, no. 766
    D' Argencourt, Louise and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. Mentioned and reproduced: v.1, p.125-126, no. 47
    Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Mentioned: p. 56; reproduced: p. 58, fig. 8
    Mothe, Alain. Ce Que Voyait Cézanne: Les Paysages Impressionnistes à la Lumière des Cartes Postales. Paris: RMN Editions, Grandpalais, 2011. Reproduced: p. 121
  • Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Beijing World Art Museum, China (May 26-August 27, 2006); Mori Art Center (September 16-November 26, 2006); Seoul Art Center, South Korea (December 22, 2006-March 28, 2007); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, South Korea (April 7-May 20, 2007); Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (June 9-September 16, 2007); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 15-June 1, 2008); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (June 22-September 21, 2008); The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 12, 2008-January 18, 2009).
    Cezanne au fil de l'eau. Musée Granet, 13100 Aix-en-Provence, France (organizer) (June 15-September 15, 2000).
    Cezanne Retrospective. Künsthalle Tubingen, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany (organizer) (January 16-April 27, 1993).
    セザンヌ展 (Paul Cezanne Exhibition). National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (March 29-May 25, 1974); Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan (June 1-July 17, 1974); Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (July 24-August 18, 1974).
    Masterpiece of the Month. Akron Art Museum (organizer) (April 2-26, 1959).
    Cézanne-Rarely Shown Works. Fine Arts Associates, New York, NY (1952).
    Summer Loan - group of fourteen Hanna paintings on loan. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. (June-September 1949).
    Art in New England-Paintings, Drawings, Prints from Private Collections in New England. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. MA (1939).
    Centennial Exhibition 1839-1939. Marie Harriman Gallery, New York, NY (1939).
    Modern Paintings from Boston Collections. Institute of Modern Art, Boston, MA (1937).
    Galerie Heinemann. Possibly Munich, Germany (1928),
  • {{cite web|title=The Brook|url=false|author=Paul Cezanne|year=c. 1895–1900|access-date=23 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1958.20