In Cézanne's Watercolors: Between Drawing and Painting by Matthew Simms, I was astonished to read that a single sheet has this gorgeous, limpid still life on one side and the beckoning woodland on the other. Can you imagine owning something like that?
For a writer, the question becomes do you write a story about an artist who always uses both sides of sheets of paper from thrift or insouciance or some quirky belief? Maybe a collector buys a picture and discovers an even better one on the back by the same artist (or a different one). Maybe a choreographer takes inspiration for a two-part dance from a pair of images on a single sheet of paper. Perhaps you will want to project yourself into the light-filled spaces Cézanne has created and see where he leads you you.
Or maybe we should just sit back in wonder!
For the Fitzwilliam's pages, click here and here.