Apples and Oranges 74×93 cm, 1895–1900, held at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. In his later years, Cézanne returned to still lifes, especially those with apples. Still life explores the tight relationship between form and color among objects, along with organized structural forms. Here, on the structure of a large white cloth, the organized forms and colors of apples and oranges are highlighted against a contrasting background, further emphasizing the formal rhythm of color planes. As he once told the famous art critic Geoffroy: "With an apple, I will amaze Paris!" These still lifes of apples, like other tabletop objects and portraits by Cézanne, practically provide him with the means to contemplate the relationships between volume, form, color, and space, reconstructing the space of still lifes or objects from multiple viewpoints, making painting itself the subject of painting.

In 1904, Cézanne wrote in a letter: "To treat nature is through cylinders, spheres, cones, and placing everything in a multiplicity of viewpoints. Nature for humanity is profound, not merely superficial appearance. There, introducing light, expressed through red, yellow, and sufficient blue tones, allows us to feel a fresh air, etc." Does this mean Cézanne was painting apples, bathers, and landscapes? No, he was crafting a painting, a completely autonomous work of art, which would become a new theme for the next generation of artists.