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How to Describe a Ginger Jar & Fruit

A "Ginger Jar and Fruit" refers to the 1895 oil painting created by French post-impressionist painter Paul Cezanne. "I should like to astonish Paris with an apple" stated Cezanne, according to Ulrike Becks-Malorny, author of the book "Paul Cézanne, 1839-1906: Pioneer of Modernism". A "Ginger jar and Fruit" is one of the paintings that showcases Cezanne's groundbreaking way of depicting inanimate objects. If you have to describe this painting for a paper or essay, you have a truly enriching task ahead of you.

Things You'll Need

  • Reproduction of Cezanne's "Ginger Jar and Fruit"
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Instructions

    • 1

      Place a reproduction of the painting, at least 8 inches by 10 inches in front of you. State the basic objects that fill the frame of the painting: a small wooden table, a white tablecloth, a ginger jar, and 11 pieces of fruit.

    • 2

      State the specifics of the objects that you see in the frame, giving greater details so that the reader can truly picture these objects. For example, state that the table is a golden wood color, the white tablecloth is rumpled and has a red stripe, elaborate on the colors and designs painted on the ginger jar, and describe the shades and shapes of the various pieces of fruit.

    • 3

      Describe the placement of these items so the reader has a sense of where they exist in relation to each other on the frame. For example, state that the ginger jar is in the background to the left of the side of the table and visible from 2/3 of the way up.

    • 4

      Describe the effect that all these components have on the composition of the painting as a whole and use specifics from the painting to back up your claims. For example, you could say the Ginger Jar anchors the painting with its grayish tones and that the warm, bright shades of the fruit so closely placed together creates a dynamic ripening effect.

    • 5

      Discuss the size of certain objects in the painting and how some of them are slightly disproporitonately large and the significance of that decision. For example, Ulrike Becks-Malorny believes that Cezanne game objects a larger or smaller size in relation to his opinion of their importance in the painting.

Fine Art

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