Paper

Student Artwork Guide

The Black Clock

Paul Cézanne

Name Class Date
Paul Cézanne, The Black Clock. Public domain. See this canvas under a moving light: the drawing, the true colour under the varnish, the bare pigment

The facts

Artist
Paul Cézanne topimpressionists.com/en/artists/paul-cezanne/
Artist’s dates
1839 – 1906
Medium
Acrylic On Canvas
Movement
Post-Impressionism Artists who kept the bright colour of Impressionism but pushed shape and feeling further than the eye really sees.
Artistic style
Geometric forms, still lifes
Influences
Impressionism
Notable elements or techniques
Bold strokes, strong outlines, vibrant colors
Subject or theme
Time, Transience

Copyright This work is in the public domain. Paul Cézanne died in 1906; copyright lasts 70 years after the artist’s death, so it ended in 1976.

Source: TopImpressionists.com — accessed Sept. 30, 2026

The Black Clock — Paul Cézanne Part 1 · The artwork

In context

The Black Clock — Paul Cézanne

When might this have been painted?

  1. 1830
  2. 1840
  3. 1850
  4. 1860
  5. 1870
  6. 1880
  7. 1890
  8. 1900

Row above: the years. Row below: how old the artist was at the start and at the end of each span — 0 at birth, 67 at death.

Shaded: the lifetime of Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) every dated painting, decade by decade

First works: up to 1875 Main working years: 1875–1894 Late works: from 1894

Those three bands split the works this catalogue has a date for into a first quarter, a middle half and a last quarter. They are not the artist’s complete output: a thin stretch may be a gap in the record rather than a quiet spell. The same years with the artist’s life laid along them

This record has no exact year on file — using the artist's lifetime and the work's style, what decade would you guess?

Compare with

Pick one work above: name two things it shares with this one, and one thing that's different.

More works to set beside this one: topimpressionists.com/en/art/similar/paul-cezanne-the-black-clock-5ZKDQN-en/

Colours

Measured from the image

    Main colour

    Phthalo Green #1f2217

    Catalogued palette

    • #1F2217
    • #B1B595
    • #756B39
    • #DFEBD6

    These colours inside the artist’s whole palette Find other paintings by colour

    Palette
    Neutrals The dominant colour family in the image.
    Main colour name
    Phthalo Green
    Intensity
    Balanced How saturated and varied the colours are, from a single toned-down hue to many bright ones.
    Contrast
    Statement How much the colours differ in lightness and saturation across the picture.
    Harmony
    Balanced Harmony How well the colours work together, from clashing to fully unified.
    Brightness
    Balanced How light or dark the picture reads overall, from deep shadow to bright highlight.
    Saturation
    Subtle Color How pure and strong the colours are, from near-grey to fully vivid.

    Where in the world is this painting looked at?

    • under 1%
    • 1–3%
    • 3–8%
    • 8–20%
    • 20% and over
    This painting alone has too few recorded visitors to map, so the plate reads every work by Paul Cézanne over the last twelve months — 71 countries in all. Where these figures come from

    The ten leading countries

    1. 1 China 50.7%
    2. 2 United States of America 9.9%
    3. 3 Hong Kong 8.6%
    4. 4 Singapore 7.9%
    5. 5 France 5.2%
    6. 6 Italy 2.6%
    7. 7 Spain 2.5%
    8. 8 Germany 1.4%
    9. 9 Romania 1.3%
    10. 10 Brazil 1.3%
    11. · 61 other countries 8.6%

    Find the three darkest countries on the map. Is the museum that keeps this painting in any of them? Write down one reason people far away might look at it.

    The 20 most looked-at works by Paul Cézanne

    1. 1 The Card Players, 1893 2.5%
    2. 2 Large Bathers (Philadelphia), 1905 1.9%
    3. 3 The Card Players, 1892 1.8%
    4. 4 Basket of Apples, 1895 1.5%
    5. 5 Mont Sainte-Victoire (Courtauld), 1887 1.3%
    6. 6 The bay from l'estaque, 1886 1.2%
    7. 7 Cardplayers, 1893 1.1%
    8. 8 The Lac d'Annecy, 1896 0.9%
    9. 9 Curtain, Jug and Fruit, 1894 0.8%
    10. 10 The Kitchen Table, 1888 0.7%
    11. 11 Landscape with Viaduct - Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1885 0.7%
    12. 12 Chateau Noir, 1904 0.6%
    13. 13 Still life with apples,c.1890, eremitaget 0.6%
    14. 14 View of L'Estaque and Chateaux d'If, 1885 0.6%
    15. 15 Mont Sainte-Victoire (Barnes), 1892 0.6%
    16. 16 Mountains in Provence, 1890 0.6%
    17. 17 The House of Pere Lacroix in Auvers, 1873 0.6%
    18. 18 The Eternal Woman, 1877 0.5%
    19. 19 House of the Hanged Man, Auvers-sur-Oise, 1873 0.5%
    20. 488 The Black Clock this painting 0.1%

    Together these works take 19.1% of all the attention this artist's paintings received over the last twelve months. The catalogue holds 998 works by this artist, of which 765 were looked at at least once. This painting ranks 488 of them, with 0.1% of that attention. The same counts, month by month

    Bars measure attention, not quality. Pick the work at the top and this one: name one thing that might make a painting famous beyond how well it is painted.

    Source: TopImpressionists.com — accessed Sept. 30, 2026

    The Black Clock — Paul Cézanne Part 2 · In context

    About this artwork

    The Black Clock — Paul Cézanne

    Introduction to the Painting and its Artist

    Paul Cezanne, a French Post-Impressionist painter, is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of his time. Born in 1839, he was a key figure in the transition from the 19th-century tradition to modern art. His work laid the groundwork for many movements that followed, including Cubism and Fauvism. The Black Clock, painted around 1869-70, is an excellent example of Cezanne's early style. The painting features a clock with Roman numerals on a dark background, which gives the piece its name. It showcases Cezanne's innovative use of color and form, as well as his ability to create depth and perspective.

    Artistic Context

    During this period, Cezanne was heavily influenced by the Impressionist movement, which emphasized capturing fleeting moments in time through the use of light and color. However, he also sought to incorporate solid forms and structures into his work, creating a unique style that bridged the gap between Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. The Black Clock reflects Cezanne's exploration of these ideas. The clock itself is rendered in bold strokes, with strong outlines and distinct shadows. At the same time, the background is filled with loose brushwork and vibrant colors, creating a sense of movement and energy.

    Interpretation

    The meaning behind The Black Clock remains open to interpretation. Some art historians suggest that it represents the passage of time and the transience of human existence. Others see it as a symbol of Cezanne's own struggle to find his artistic voice amidst the rapidly changing art world of the late 19th century. Regardless of its intended meaning, The Black Clock stands as a testament to Cezanne's skill and vision. Its bold colors, innovative composition, and thought-provoking subject matter continue to captivate viewers today.

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    Source: TopImpressionists.com — accessed Sept. 30, 2026

    The Black Clock — Paul Cézanne Part 3 · About this artwork

    Artist and museum

    Artist

    Paul Cézanne

    Born in Aix-en-Provence, France

    The Architect of Form

    Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence, France, into a family with deep roots in the local banking industry. His father, Louis-Auguste Cézanne, helped found the Banque Cézanne et Cabassol, providing a level of financial stability that many of his contemporaries lacked. This security allowed Paul to move away from the legal studies his father had planned for him. Though he initially studied law at the University of Aix-en-Provence, he abandoned those studies in 1860 to focus entirely on painting. His early years were spent in the company of friends like Émile Zola, and together they shared a childhood of swimming and fishing along the banks of the Arc River.

    The early works of Cézanne often carried the weight of Romanticism, utilizing dark palettes and heavy, expressive brushwork. He was influenced by the dramatic tonal contrasts found in the tradition of Eugène Delacroix. However, his approach began to shift as he moved toward Paris. He sought a way to move beyond the fleeting light captured by the Impressionists. Instead of merely recording a passing moment, he wanted to find the permanent structure within nature. He looked at a mountain or a piece of fruit and saw the underlying geometry—the cones, spheres, and cylinders that form the bones of the world.

    A New Way of Seeing

    Cézanne developed a technique characterized by small, repetitive, and constructive brushstrokes. He layered these patches of color to build up volume and texture, creating a sense of solidity. This method allowed him to explore spatial relationships without relying on traditional single-point perspective. In many of his compositions, objects appear independent within the space, often presented from multiple viewpoints at once. This rejection of classical perspective rules helped create a new pictorial language.

    His subject matter was deeply tied to his surroundings in Provence. The Mont Sainte-Victoire became a recurring presence in his work, appearing in approximately eighty different paintings and watercolors over many years. He also found profound meaning in the simplest objects. His still lifes, featuring items like apples, jars, and cups, were not mere decorations but intense studies of light, shadow, and mass. Through these works, he demonstrated how color modulation could define shape without the need for traditional shading.

    The Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses)

    Mont Sainte-Victoire series

    Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses

    Portrait of Émile Zola

    The Card Players

    A Lasting Influence

    By the time of his death in 1906, Cézanne had fundamentally altered the direction of modern painting. His emphasis on geometric form and multiple perspectives provided a foundation for the Cubist movement. Artists such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque drew heavily from his analytical approach to nature. His use of bold, non-naturalistic color also left an impression on the Fauvists, including Henri Matisse. He moved art away from the imitation of reality toward a construction of visual experience based on perception and structure.

    Where to read more

    Find this online

    QR code linking to the download page for The Black Clock

    topimpressionists.com/en/art/download/paul-cezanne-the-black-clock-5ZKDQN-en/

    Cite this artwork

    MLA
    Cézanne, Paul. The Black Clock. n.d., https://topimpressionists.com/en/art/paul-cezanne-the-black-clock-5ZKDQN-en/
    APA
    Cézanne, Paul (n.d.). The Black Clock [Painting]. https://topimpressionists.com/en/art/paul-cezanne-the-black-clock-5ZKDQN-en/
    Chicago
    Paul Cézanne. The Black Clock. n.d. https://topimpressionists.com/en/art/paul-cezanne-the-black-clock-5ZKDQN-en/
    Harvard
    Cézanne, Paul (n.d.) The Black Clock. Available at: https://topimpressionists.com/en/art/paul-cezanne-the-black-clock-5ZKDQN-en/

    Source: TopImpressionists.com — accessed Sept. 30, 2026

    The Black Clock — Paul Cézanne Part 4 · Artist and museum

    Look closely

    The Black Clock — Paul Cézanne

    Look closely

    Answer in your own words. There are no wrong answers here — only answers you can explain.

    1. What catches your eye first, and why?
    2. Which colours or shapes create the mood — and what is that mood?
    3. Our catalogue files this work under: still life, clock, color palette. Do you agree? What would you add, or take away?
    4. Look back at The Card Players (1893), earlier in this guide. Name two things it shares with this work, and one that is different.
    5. Post-Impressionism: Artists who kept the bright colour of Impressionism but pushed shape and feeling further than the eye really sees. Where can you see that in this work?

    Your response

    Write a short paragraph about this artwork. Use the facts from the earlier parts of this guide, and your answers above.

    Source: TopImpressionists.com — accessed Sept. 30, 2026

    The Black Clock — Paul Cézanne Part 5 · Look closely

    Questions & Answers

    Is a download available for "The Black Clock"?

    A download is available for "The Black Clock": the artwork's Download page offers a high-resolution digital image download.

    How do contrast and harmony combine in "The Black Clock"?

    In "The Black Clock", a statement contrast is paired with a balanced harmony harmony.

    Where can I find statistics about "The Black Clock" by Paul Cézanne?

    Statistics about "The Black Clock" by Paul Cézanne are on the artwork's Stats page: monthly visits of the artwork, visits of the artist's works, and country and language breakdowns of recent visitors.