Man with Crossed Arms

A seated man folds his arms and gazes off to the side, his head slightly tilted, his solid form built from firm, faceted patches of color in muted blues, browns, and ochres. Cezanne is less interested in the sitter's identity than in constructing a stable, monumental presence out of planes of paint, the slight asymmetries adding quiet life. Now in the Guggenheim, Man with Crossed Arms is among his most compelling late portraits - an ordinary figure given gravity and structural weight, the human head treated with the same searching solidity as his mountains and apples.