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Artwork · 1882 · Mythological painting

Leda and the Swan

Paul Cezanne
1882 · Oil on Canvas
The Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia), Philadelphia
★ 4.8 editorial score

The god Zeus, in the form of a swan, nips at the hand of the reclining nude Leda, who turns away with cool composure rather than alarm. Cezanne treats the ancient myth with his characteristic structural solidity, building the body and the bird from firm planes of color rather than soft sensual surfaces. Now in the Barnes Foundation, his Leda and the Swan strips the erotic legend of its drama and prettiness, recasting it as a study in form and balance - the mythological subject subordinated, as always with Cezanne, to the architecture of the picture itself.

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Other media onSubject·Birds
Quote · 1977

“There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain.”

Colleen McCullough