by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 2, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
Paul Cézanne appears close to the viewer, his bald forehead bright against a field of yellow pastel. Dark curls spread out beside his ears and merge into a heavy beard; a black coat dissolves into the pale paper at the bottom. Pierre-Auguste Renoir signed and dated this portrait “Renoir 80” at the upper left. The image on this page is a pastel on paper from 1880, not a 1902 oil painting. Renoir made a separate lithograph of Cézanne about 1902, and Cézanne himself painted a self-portrait after the pastel. Sotheby's catalogue, Portrait de Cézanne [1]; Musée Léon Dierx, 1902 lithograph. [2]
That distinction matters. The dated signature sits in the yellow area of the colour image, and its soft marks are characteristic of pastel. The later print is monochrome. A reader trying to locate the colourful work in a print museum's 1902 records would be following the wrong object. Sotheby's [1]; Museum of Modern Art, 1902 Paul Cézanne. [3]
At a glance
- ArtistPierre-Auguste Renoir
- Catalogued titlePortrait de Cézanne
- Date and signature1880, signed “Renoir.” and dated “80” at upper left
- Medium and sizePastel on paper, 53.7 × 43.5 cm
- SitterPaul Cézanne, painter and Renoir's friend
- First recorded ownerVictor Chocquet, according to Sotheby's provenance
- CollectionPrivate collection in the Morgan Library's recent exhibition label
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Watch on YouTubeSotheby's 2012 catalogue supplies the physical details and long provenance. The Morgan Library's exhibition label identifies the pastel as a private-collection loan and emphasizes that the circumstances of its making are unknown. We know who and when from the object record, but cannot reconstruct the exact sitting or prove who asked Renoir to make it. Sotheby's catalogue [1]; Morgan Library, Portrait of Cezanne. [4]
Yellow light and a dark coat
The portrait is built around Cézanne's head and upper torso. Renoir places the highest light across the forehead, then uses pink, tan and grey strokes to model the temples, nose and cheeks. The gaze points downward and to one side. The eyes are small and carefully held within a face whose edges remain soft. There is no room, easel or tool to tell us what Cézanne was doing while he posed.
Around the head, a vigorously worked yellow ground makes the dark hair legible. Colour is rubbed and drawn in different directions, leaving the texture of the paper visible. Near the upper left, the blue signature is prominent against the warm background. At the right, loose dark curls project into that yellow field. The shoulder and coat have a different weight: charcoal-like black marks build up a broad silhouette, but the lower edge breaks apart instead of closing into a clean contour.
That unfinished-looking lower boundary is part of the composition's effect. Our attention rises from the scattered dark particles of the jacket to the dense beard, then to the open forehead. The sitter's facial structure stays recognizable while the surrounding lines move quickly. Sotheby's condition note describes pastel on paper mounted to a wooden stretcher and records small pinholes and edge wear. It also calls the colours lively and undisturbed. Those physical observations help explain why the large source image makes the grain of the strokes visible; they should not be turned into a claim that the work was left incomplete. Sotheby's condition report. [1]
Renoir, Cézanne and Victor Chocquet
Renoir and Cézanne were fellow artists within the early Impressionist circle. Their later approaches diverged, but their relationship remained active. Sotheby's catalogue records visits and periods of painting together in the south of France during the 1880s. The Musée Léon Dierx also describes their continued contact and cites this private-collection pastel as the earlier source for Renoir's 1902 print. These accounts establish a friendship across years; they do not date the specific moment when Cézanne sat for the pastel beyond Renoir's 1880 signature. Sotheby's catalogue note [1]; Musée Léon Dierx. [2]
The first owner named by Sotheby's is Victor Chocquet, a collector who supported both painters. Its provenance says he acquired the work from Renoir and that it remained in his collection until the estate sale of 1899. The Morgan exhibition label likewise says Chocquet owned the portrait until his death in 1891. The two statements fit: the portrait remained in his estate before the later sale. Sotheby's provenance [1]; Morgan exhibition label. [5]
Chocquet's role makes this more than an exchange of portraits between artist friends. A collector who admired both Renoir and Cézanne owned a likeness of one made by the other. We should still be cautious about how it reached him. Sotheby's rehearses different historical possibilities about whether Cézanne first had the pastel, whether it was made for Chocquet, and how Cézanne accessed it to make his own painted copy. Those proposals are not a settled account of a commission or swap. Sotheby's catalogue note. [1]
Cézanne's response: a portrait after Renoir
Cézanne painted his own likeness after Renoir's pastel in 1881–82. The online Cézanne catalogue raisonné identifies that oil painting as Portrait de Cézanne, d'après Renoir, FWN 461. It is a separate object, and the title “after Renoir” means Cézanne took the earlier composition as a point of reference. The Morgan notes that Cézanne's copy indicates the portrait appealed to him, though it cannot by itself tell us his thoughts about every aspect of Renoir's drawing. Cézanne online catalogue raisonné, FWN 461 [6]; Morgan exhibition label. [5]
Comparing the two works is an unusual opportunity: Cézanne did not simply sit for a friend; he then used that friend's likeness as the model for his own self-portrait. The sequence makes the 1880 pastel important to the history of both artists. It also explains why catalogues sometimes show a closely related image under Cézanne's name. The medium and creator fields must be read carefully: Renoir's original is pastel, and Cézanne's response is oil painting.
The later lithograph is another work
Around 1902, Renoir returned to Cézanne's features in a lithograph. The Musée Léon Dierx owns one impression, inventory 1947.01.100, described as lithography on paper and measuring 47.3 × 39.9 cm. The Museum of Modern Art lists its own 1902 impression as lithograph, object 507.1940. These records refer to prints, not to this colourful 1880 pastel. The Dierx museum explicitly connects the print's grey gradations with the earlier pastel likeness. Musée Léon Dierx object record [2]; MoMA object record. [3]
The lithograph is a legitimate Renoir portrait of Cézanne, so its date can be found beside the same sitter's name in search results. It does not revise the signed “80” on the pastel. Likewise, a portrait medallion of Cézanne was made later with Richard Guino's assistance, according to Sotheby's. One sitter and one artist can produce several distinct portrait objects. Sotheby's catalogue note. [1]
From Chocquet's collection onward
After the Chocquet estate sale, Sotheby's traces the pastel through Durand-Ruel and Martin Ryerson. It entered the Art Institute of Chicago from Ryerson in 1927, then passed back to Durand-Ruel in 1945. The later catalogue chain includes Sam Salz, the Block and Ittleson collections, Acquavella Galleries, the Rosensaft collection and further private ownership, with documented Sotheby's sales in 1976, 1989 and 1998. That history explains why older sources may name the Art Institute even though the pastel is described as privately owned in more recent exhibition material. Sotheby's provenance. [1]
The portrait has also been exhibited repeatedly since 1883, according to the Sotheby's exhibition list. A museum loan indicates past access for viewers, not permanent collection ownership. The available Morgan label and auction record support “private collection” as a cautious present location; they do not identify the current owner or promise that the work is on public display.
Looking again
Follow the blue “Renoir 80” across the yellow ground, then compare the softness of the forehead with the broken black edge of the jacket. Renoir's pastel balances a recognizable colleague against a highly visible drawing surface. Its subsequent history takes it through Chocquet's collection, Cézanne's painted response and Renoir's later print. Each link is informative, provided the pastel, self-portrait and lithograph remain separate works.
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Questions about Renoir's Paul Cézanne
No. The colourful portrait shown here is an 1880 pastel on paper, signed and dated at upper left. Renoir made a related lithograph around 1902.
Yes. Cézanne's 1881–82 oil self-portrait after Renoir is catalogued separately as FWN 461. The exact circumstances in which he accessed the pastel are debated.
Victor Chocquet is the first owner in Sotheby's provenance. He admired and collected works by both Renoir and Cézanne; the pastel later appeared in his estate sale.
The Morgan Library's exhibition label gives private collection. The Art Institute of Chicago owned it during 1927–45, but that is a former ownership period.
Discussion
What do you notice when you return to Paul Cezanne?
How do the yellow ground and dark coat shape the view of Cézanne’s face?
Reader Insights
How do the yellow ground and dark coat shape the view of Cézanne’s face?
Renoir signed the pastel “80”; the familiar 1902 lithograph is a separate work.
What does Cézanne’s later painted copy add to your reading of this portrait?
Join the Conversation
Share a close observation or a source-backed question about Renoir’s paul cezanne.
References
- Sotheby's, Portrait de Cézanne, lot 39 (2012): signature, medium, dimensions, provenance, condition and related works View source.
- Musée Léon Dierx, Musée Léon Dierx, Portrait de Paul Cézanne , 1947.01.100 View source.
- Musée Léon Dierx, MoMA, Paul Cézanne , 507.1940 View source.
- Morgan Library, Morgan Library, Portrait of Cezanne exhibition page View source.
- Morgan Library, large-print exhibition label View source.
- Cézanne online catalogue raisonné, Portrait de Cezanne, d'après Renoir, FWN 461: Cézanne's distinct painted response View source.
- Whole-work image: Wikimedia Commons, Renoir - PORTRAIT DE CÉZANNE, 1880.jpg, 3215 × 4000. Its file page lists Sotheby's as the source and gives a PD-Art public-domain notice for the faithful reproduction. The image here is reduced to 823 × 1024 pixels View source.
