One cannot see from all the angles at once. At a glance, the eye takes in the larger, broad information, and then at closer look, we notice that the front of the table, were it to continue across underneath the tablecloth (crumpled and more vivid than perhaps anything else in the painting), is not one but two edges of a table. Edges that could not, if they tried, ever meet. And, notice how we peer both at and into the large vase. The teapots seem to be dipping as if falling over, as if falling off the plane of the room were it not for the weight of the large basket keeping the table grounded. The angles in the background, the wall line, the cupboard, a stray leg, perhaps of another table or chair, give the eye more distraction and disorientation and perhaps draw more focus to the fore. The eye is given options, left to wander and perceive a litany of angles and interpretations and information in this masterwork of Cézanne.
Thoughts on food, and lots more
