CИzanne, Paul: Portraits of Mme CИzanne

On his first Paris trip, he met Marie-Hortense Fiquet, the model who eventually became his wife and the mother of his only child. Poor Hortense. She never liked Provence, and she never understood her husband. The feeling was mutual. CИzanne didn't understand women at all and she was no exception. She didn't like his pictures much either. She preferred the city lights to the south of France, so they lived apart much of the time. She dutifully posed for her husband during summers in Aix, but these portraits show her with a remote, inscrutable look, with eyes that never meet the viewer's. She didn't get much out of the marriage. Paul kept her a secret from the family for years, and because he seldom sold a painting (although he did barter them for art supplies from PХre Tanguy, as did van Gogh) and did not get much money from home until his father's death, money was always tight.

• Madame CИzanne
  1885-87 (120 Kb); Oil on canvas, 92.6 x 72.9 cm (36 1/2 x 28 3/4 in); The Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania
  

• Madame CИzanne en bleu (in Blue)
  c. 1886 (160 Kb); Oil on canvas, 73.6 x 61 cm (29 x 24"); The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Venturi no. 529
  

• Madame CИzanne au fauteuil jaune (in a Yellow Chair)
  1888-90 (120 Kb); Oil on canvas, 81 x 64.9 cm (31 7/8 x 25 5/8"); The Art Institute of Chicago; Venturi no. 572
  

• Madame CИzanne aux cheveux dИnouИs (with Unbound Hair)
  1890-92 (120 Kb); Oil on canvas, 61.9 x 50.8 cm (24 5/8 x 20"); Philadelphia Museum of Art; Venturi no. 527
  

• Woman in a Green Hat (Madame CИzanne)
  1894-95 (90 Kb); Oil on canvas, 100.2 x 81.2 cm (39 1/2 x 32 in); The Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania