Examination: Cezanne's The Basket of Apples Will the apples fall
off the table? Explore the tension between stability and
imbalance in this late still life by Cezanne.  Book:
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism  Many of Paul Cézanne’s
late still lifes depict complex arrangements whose artificial
character underscores the artist’s role as contriver. They are,
however, very different from the seventeenth-century Dutch
prototypes to which they are sometimes compared. Cézanne never
aimed at illusionism, and his still-life compositions can be
anthropomorphic, expressive of psychological tension, in ways
never dreamt of by his Baroque predecessors.  The Basket of
Apples exemplifies this effect. The theatrical tilt of the
basket implies that the apples on the tabletop have rolled out
of it; yet the way they huddle and nestle in the crumpled napkin
suggests that they possess independent minds. The biscuits on a
plate are carefully stacked, but they too seem animate, as if
straining to take in the drama unfolding bef