Heather Spears - 50-Minute Cézanne

Experiments in Visual Perception:
The 50-Minute Cézanne

Please join this experiment in perception. For a book I am preparing on Cézanne and the visual brain, I need a broad base (at least 100 viewers) to partake and report their experience. You don’t have to be an artist, art student or critic, just someone who goes to galleries and enjoys looking at paintings. The rules are simple – look at an original Cézanne (painted after 1876) for 50 minutes. Check your watch/ change viewing position if you like.

Some hints:

If you have a choice among several, choose the painting you like least.
It gets tiresome standing up. Many galleries (including Nat. Gallery London, Orangerie Paris) permit a small folding stool. Or ask for a chair, or a wheelchair. Added benefit – you will not be in anyone’s way (and no one will be in yours) if you are at sitting level.

After 50 minutes, write down your experience, providing as much information as you like, and send, with information below, to my email:

Or by post to: Heather Spears, Thorvaldesensvej 10 ST, 1871 Copenhagen Denmark

Please copy and paste the following into an email or Word/text document as a guide and send with your comments:

The 50-Minute Cézanne

Name / Date of Painting ___________________________
Gallery or Museum _______________________________
Date visited ____________
Your name _________Age__M/F___ email_________________ Address__________________________________________________
Profession ___________________

Personal information will remain confidential.

___I would like to be acknowledged by name in the book
___I would like to be anonymous
___I would like to stay in touch, and hear about the progress/publication of the book.

Thanks for your contribution! Heather Spears