Paul Cézanne
(1839 - 1906)

Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne is said to have formed the bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cézanne

Leda and the Swan 

Circa 1880 

Oil on canvas 

59,7 x 74,9 cm 

The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

https://collection.barnesfoundation.org/objects/6991/Leda-and-the-Swan-(Leda-au-cygne)/

This picture is unusual in Cézanne's oeuvre for its specific literary subject matter. It represents the story from Ovid's Metamorphoses in which Zeus disguises himself as a swan to seduce Leda, the daughter of King Thestius. This is certainly one of the artist's more overtly sensual paintings: Leda displays herself for the viewer, hip curving dramatically and cheeks flushed, while the swan's beak wraps around her wrist as if taking possession of her. Cézanne made two drawings in preparation for the painting, one of which shows the figure holding a champagne flute.