How does The Eternal Feminine (Cézanne) elucidate its Cézanne's depiction of women?
Throughout Cézanne's career, he returned to the subject of the female body. In some works, the woman is represented as the femme fatale. In works such as The Eternal Feminine and Modern Olympia, the woman can be seen as a temptress, drawing men away from their artistic and intellectual careers.Changes in Cézanne's personal life led to increased anxiety towards women. When he first used the femme fatale in his paintings in 1870, he also began sexual relations with a young, tall model known as Hortense Fiquet. This was probably one of his earliest sexual experiences, whose psychological effects he may have worked through in his paintings. According to one interpretation, Cézanne shows himself in The Eternal Feminine gazing upon the woman but overcoming the temptation of her physical beauty.As he aged, Cézanne focused less on the femme fatale.
Cézanne femme fatale