A MASTERPIECE, IN THE HISTORY OF PAINTING
(19) PAUL CEZANNE
Boy in the Red Vest, 1889 or 1890, oil on canvas – Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org
Paul Cézanne, is a French painter, born January 19, 1839 in Aix-en-Provence and died October 22, 1906 in the same city.
Cezanne‘s home environment is that of the provincial good bourgeoisie. His father, owner in Aix-en-Provence (France) of a prosperous hat factory. he was not married to the mother of his son, one of his former workers.
He frequented Zola, who supports him in his efforts, intellectually, morally and even financially, and also meets Bazille, Renoir, Monet, Sisley. Through Zola, who became Manet’s friend, he met him in 1866. Cezanne’s early works had little to do with those of his Impressionist friends, whom he shared only with him. ambition, the desire for novelty, and the revolt against academic standards ….. Cezanne being a self-taught painter, his painting is less homogeneous than that of his Impressionist colleagues, sometimes even clumsy … Cézanne, from 1863, regularly offers paintings to the jury of the Salon Officiel de Paris: they will always be refused (with one exception).
Cezanne will maintain a permanent dialogue with Pissarro and Guillaumin, with whom he shares the concern for an accurate representation of nature.
If Cezanne is getting closer to one of the fundamental principles of Impressionism, which consists in devoting himself totally to the vision, he does not want to stop by fixing only the « impression » which results from it, but rather « something of as solid and durable as the art of museums « …..
Cézanne paints his landscapes in Ile-de-France, and in his Provence where he travels the hills around the Montagne Sainte-Victoire…..Beside portraits, still lifes, Cézanne will be interested in the nude in nature, which he will call « bathers ».
Sainte-Victoire Mountain, 1904, oil on canvas – Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org
Still life with apples and oranges, 1895-1900, oil on canvas – Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org
The Maincy Bridge, 1873, oil on canvas – Photo source: fr.m.wikipedia.org
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