The apple of Gauguin’s eye goes on show in Tate’s Cézanne spectacular

Painted by one legendary artist and owned by another, this Cézanne masterpiece is one of 22 going on show in the UK for the first time.

The works, never seen in this country before, will feature in Tate Modern’s exhibition dedicated to the career of the French post-impressionist which opens in October.

Still Life with Fruit Dish was once owned by Cézanne’s great contemporary Gauguin but is now in the collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art who have lent it to Tate.

The work so impressed Gauguin he even depicted it in the background of one of his own paintings — Woman in Front of a Still Life by Cézanne — and described it as “an exceptional pearl, the apple of my eye”. The show will look at the life and career of Cézanne, who Monet described as the “greatest of us all”, and will feature 80 works including landscapes, still life paintings and portraits.

They include his portrait of Scipio painted in 1866 to his work Seated Man which he painted in the final months of his life in 1906.

Also included are a room of paintings of the limestone mountain Sainte-Victoire in his native Provence and several examples of his paintings of bathers including one of his most famous from the National Gallery. Visitors will also learn about his early days in Provence and how his work changed as he moved to Paris before finally finding success when he returned home.

Gauguin, who only sold the painting when he was desperate for money to pay medical bills, was not the only famous artist to collect Cézanne’s work, with Picasso, Matisse and Henry Moore also among his devotees.

A spokeswoman for Tate said: “The EY Exhibition: Cézanne will offer UK audiences a unique chance to encounter many of the French artist’s works for the first time.”

The EY Exhibition: Cézanne runs from October 5 to March 12