# Madame Cezanne in a Yellow Chair

- By: Paul Cezanne (French, 1839–1906)
- Date: 1888–90
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 80.9 × 64.9 cm (31 13/16 × 25 9/16 in.); Framed: 106.7 × 90.2 × 11.2 cm (42 × 35 1/2 × 4 3/8 in.)
- Culture: France
- Credit line: Wilson L. Mead Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/62371)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/4822cd01-44ac-041a-36b8-c0542377b750/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This portrait is one in a series of four Paul Cezanne made of his wife, Emélie-Hortense Fiquet, whom he met when she worked as an artist’s model. They had a son together in 1872 and married in 1886. Technical examination suggests that Cezanne traced this image, the second in the series, from the first portrait, which he made from life. In contrast to her masklike expression, Hortense’s hands are agitated, contorted by crisscrossing brushstrokes and the dark-blue outlines Cezanne used to sketch out the forms, which remain visible in the final work.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0