The Basket of Apples

In the pictureOn a brown wooden table, at the left, a basket with a handle tips forward as if about to spill its apples, and beneath it a prop holding the basket up can be seen. In the middle stands a dark green wine bottle, and at the back right is a white plate stacked with long biscuits. A white cloth lies rumpled over the middle of the table, and red, yellow, and yellow-green apples are scattered on and around it. The apples in the basket are a mix of green and orange, and on the table corner at the far right sits a separate fruit of mixed yellow and red. The wall is pale blue-green, and there is a signature at the lower left.

BackgroundCézanne, from Aix-en-Provence in southern France, painted still lifes by arranging the same apples, bottles, and cloths again and again. This painting dates from about 1893. Look closely and the bottle leans to one side, the plate is seen from above, and the front edge of the table does not line up from left to right on either side of the cloth. This is interpreted as the result of choosing, for each object, the angle that shows it best and recomposing them, rather than copying the view from a single spot. This way of recomposing form is considered to have had a great influence on the Cubist painters who followed.

Puzzle tipThe objects are clear and easy to pick out. Assemble the dark green bottle, the brown rim and handle of the basket, and the white plate with its biscuits first. The white tablecloth is broad, but its gray fold lines and faint red stripes show the direction. Group the apples by color, and separate those in the basket from those on the table by whether the brown basket rim shows along with them. The pale blue-green wall and ocher table are broad areas, so fill them last. 48 pieces is a good fit.