Cézanne's Card Players at the Met

Last time I was in Paris I was really in the mood to see Cézanne's Card Players at the Musée d'Orsay. But the famous painting was out, on loan to some other museum, and I didn't get to see it. I did, however, get to see the other painting I was in the mood to see, which was The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds, at the Louvre, virtually across the street.

I haven't been to Paris since then, but seeing the Card Players stayed on my list of things to do on my next visit. But since I live in New York things turned out the other way around; the Card Players came to me. In fact, I got more than I could ever have hoped. The Metropolitan Museum of Art put together an entire show of Cézanne's Card Players, all in one room.


Cézanne painted many renditions of the Card Players, but it's not often that one has the chance to see several of them in one room at the same time. In fact, there are only two Card Player paintings that weren't included in this show; the Card Players from the Barnes Foundation (a painting that never travels) and another rendition that is in a private collection. However, full size black & white reproductions were included in this show, so that was as close as it gets to having all of them in the same room. One thing that's nice about the Met show is that you get to see Cézanne's original sketches and studies right next to the canvases. I don't see how any Cézanne fan could pass up such a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The Met already owns one of the Card Players and since it's close to home it's a painting I've seen numerous times, but it was nice seeing it in context, this time. The Barnes Foundation owns the rendition that is very similar to this one, and quite larger in size.


The painting I missed when I visited the Musée d'Orsay is hanging at the opposite side of the room. This is a relatively small canvas that features only two card players, but is by many considered to be the best of the Card Players series. Cézanne painted two other similar canvases, one of which is owned by the Courtauld Gallery in London and is exhibited right next to the canvas from the Musée d'Orsay. The other rendition is in a private collection and was shown only as a print.


The Courtauld and the Musée d'Orsay can normally be seen in London and in Paris. So normally one could never hope to compare the two paintings side by side. The Met show offers this unique opportunity, which is why I intend to go back there before May 8th, when the show closes. The best I can do on my blog is to display two low resolution images of the two canvases, side by side.


The painting on the left is the one from the Musée d'Orsay and the one on the right is from the Courtauld Gallery. Of course this side by side display can only offer a very superficial comparison; at the Met show you get to see the subtle differences in brush strokes and other details that simply don't reproduce in these images.

I believe no one interested in card games should miss the opportunity to see this show. Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to travel to New York, just for a museum show, but if you do happen to be in New York and don't take the time to see this show you'll miss something really great. And there's more to the show than Cézanne's famous Card Players canvases. As you enter the main exhibit you walk through a mini exhibit of various other works of art featuring gamblers and card players, that sets the tone for the man show. That alone is worth the price of the admission, which is actually pay as much or as little as you wish. So, if you're in New York and if you have a penny to spare, you can see this amazing show for as little as one penny. So, there's really no excuse to miss this one in a lifetime opportunity.