The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 17, 2025

Footpath in the Woods

1882–84

Paul Cezanne

(French, 1839–1906)
France
watercolor and graphite on modern laid paper
Support: 51.6 x 35.9 cm (20 5/16 x 14 1/8 in.); Matted: 62.9 x 48.3 x 0.6 cm (24 3/4 x 19 x 1/4 in.); Image: 47.9 x 31.4 cm (18 7/8 x 12 3/8 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 2021.165
Catalogue raisonné: Venturi 838; Rewald 170; FWN 1118
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This drawing was once owned by collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein, in whose Parisian apartment it would have been seen by a young Pablo Picasso.

Description

Paul Cezanne is known for moving beyond the visible brushwork of Impressionism toward a “constructive stroke,” in which each mark built a cohesive whole. He favored subjects that he saw as timeless, including landscape, the focus of this watercolor. Cezanne depicted chestnut trees at the Jas de Bouffan, his family estate outside Aix-en-Provence in southern France. He used graphite lines and areas of muted watercolor, but also the whiteness of his sheet of paper to represent the scene. The artist worked in watercolor throughout his entire career, seeing it as a site of experimentation and for developing new ideas.
  • probably 1895 - ?
    (Ambroise Vollard [1867–1939], Paris, presumably sold to Princess Murat, Paris)
    after 1906 - probably 1913
    Princess Murat [1878–1936], Paris
    1913 - 1914
    Leo [1872–1947] and Gertrude [1874–1946] Stein, Paris, owned jointly
    1914 - ?
    Gertrude Stein, Paris
    1926 - 1929
    (Bernheim-Jeune, Paris)
    1929
    (Paul Cassirer, Berlin, sold to Hertha Harries-von Siemens, Berlin)
    1929 - 1939
    Hertha Harries-von Siemens [1870–1939], Berlin, by descent
    1939 - 2004
    private collection, Munich
    probably 2004
    (Walter Feilchenfeldt, Zurich)
    2004 - 2021
    private collection, Switzerland
    2021
    (Luxembourg & Co., London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2021-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cézanne, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Bronzen von Edgar Degas. Exh. cat. Berlin: Galerie Flechtheim, 1927. Mentioned: no. 38
    Scheffler, Karl. “Französische Zeichnungen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts bei Paul Cassirer.” Kunst und Künstler 28, no. 5 (1930): 192.
    Venturi, Lionello. Cézanne: Son art, son œuvre. Paris: Paul Rosenberg, 1936. Mentioned: vol. 1, p. 242, no. 838; Reproduced vol. 2, pl. 273
    Adriani, Götz. Cézanne Watercolors. Translated by Russell M. Stockman. New York: Abrams, 1981. Mentioned: p. 288, no. 124
    Rewald, John. Paul Cézanne: The Watercolors. Boston: Little, Brown, 1983. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 126–27, no. 170
    Rewald, John. Cézanne and America: Dealers, Collectors, Artists and Critics, 1891–1921. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 61–62
    Bishop, Janet, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow, eds. The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde, 366, 369, 372, 397 (ill.), no. 16. Exh. cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011. Mentioned: pp. 366, 369, 372, no. 16; Reproduced: p. 397
    Bishop, Janet, Cécile Debray, Rebecca Rabinow, and Gary Tinterow, eds. Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso: L’Aventure des Stein. Exh. cat. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2011. Mentioned: p. 153; Reproduced: p. 396
    Ruppen, Fabienne. Reconstructing Cezanne: Sequence and Process in Paul Cezanne’s Works on Paper. Exh. cat. London: Luxembourg & Dayan, 2019. Mentoined: pp. 22, 66, no. 10; Reproduced: p. 67
    Feilchenfeldt, Walter, Jayne Warman, and David Nash. The Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings of Paul Cezanne: An Online Catalogue Raisonné. Published online, 2020. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 1118 www.cezannecatalogue.com
    Salsbury, Britany. “Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: Acquiring the now-on-view Cleveland collection.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 63, no. 1 (2023): 8-9. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 9. archive.org
    Salsbury, Britany. Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 132-135, no. 23
  • Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-June 11, 2023).
    Reconstructing Cezanne: Sequence and Process in Paul Cezanne’s Works on Paper. Luxembourg & Dayan, London (October 2–December 7, 2019).
    Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso: L’Aventure des Stein. Grand Palais, Paris (October 5, 2011–January 16, 2012).
    Paul Cézanne Aquarelle. Kunsthalle Tübingen (January 16–March 21, 1982); Kunsthaus Zürich (April 2–May 31, 1982).
    Ein Jahrhundert französischer Zeichnung. Paul Cassirer, Berlin (December 1929–January 1930).
    Cézanne, Aquarelle und Zeichnungen, Bronzen von Edgar Degas. Galerie Flechtheim, Berlin (May 19–June 16, 1927).
    Possibly Watercolors by Paul Cezanne. Galerie Amboise Vollard, Paris (June 1905).
  • {{cite web|title=Footpath in the Woods|url=false|author=Paul Cezanne|year=1882–84|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.165