Critique #3

The Card Player
By: Paul Cézanne

The famous painting “The Card Player” by Paul Cézanne has many versions of the picture; one of them contains four figures rather than the two. The one with two player’s best reflects Cézanne’s conception and his aspiration to seriousness. The narrative of the painting is very clear. It is obvious that the men are engaged in a card game. The painting was done with oil on canvas.

The foreground of the painting is the table that the men are playing cards on. The shade of brown in the background of the painting is very rich in color. There is a spot in the back where it looks like Cézanne may have rubbed the brown paint. The bottle in between the men shows realism to the scene as well does the clothing on the men.

“The Card Player” implicates the act of gambling. It shows two men enjoying each others company while playing a game of cards.