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PAUL CÉZANNE
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Paul Cézanne (January 19, 1839 – October 22, 1906) was a French artist, a Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the early 20th century's most startling new line of artistic enquiry, namely Cubism. The line attributed to both Matisse and Picasso that Cézanne "...is the father of us all..." cannot be easily dismissed.
Cézanne's work demonstrates a mastery of design, colour, composition and draftsmanship. His often repetitive, sensitive, tentative, delicate and exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and instantly recognisable, almost as clearly recognisable as handwriting. Using planes of colour and small repeated brushstokes that build up to form complex fields at once a direct expression of the sensations of the observing eye, and an abstraction from observed nature, Cézanne's paintings convey intense study of his subjects, a repeated and searching gaze, and a dogged struggle to deal with the complexity of human visual perception.
Life and work
Biographical background
Paul Cézanne was born on 19 January 1839 in Aix-en-Provence, one of the southernmost regions of France. Provence is a varied and complex region geographically, comprising several limestone plateaux and mountain ranges to the East of the Rhône valley. The climate is hot and dry in summer, and quite cool in winter. Altitudes range from lower-lying areas to some quite impressive mountain peaks, and these more mountainous areas have characteristic pine forests and limestone outcrops. Cézanne clearly absorbed his surroundings wholeheartedly, and developed a lifelong love for the Provençal landscapes which later became his chief subjects of study.
From 1859 to 1861 Cézanne studied law in Aix, and developed his early love of art by taking drawing lessons. Going against the objections of his father, he committed himself to pursuing his artistic development and left Aix for Paris with his close friend Émile Zola in 1861. Eventually, his father reconciled with his son and supported his choice of career. Cézanne later received a large inheritance from his father, on which he could continue living a comfortable life.
Cezanne the Artist
In Paris, Cézanne met Camille Pissarro and the other Impressionists. Pissarro was to influence Cézanne's painting over the years and they often painted together.
Cézanne's early work is often concerned with the figure in the landscape, and comprises many paintings of groups of large, heavy figures in the landscape, imaginatively painted. Later in his career he became more interested in working from direct observation and gradually developed a light, airy painting style that was to influence the Impressionists enormously. In Cézanne's work we see a development of a solidified, almost architectural style of painting, in which the visual field is broken down into small, often very regular brushstrokes that build up the image in planes and areas of colour. His famous words, "I want to make of impressionism something solid and lasting like the art in the museums", seem to indicate that his struggle was to develop a hitherto unknown authenticity of observation of the seen world by the most accurate method of representing it in paint that he could find, and this, for him, involved breaking the surface of the painting into small, often repetitive strokes of the brush. He structurally ordered whatever he perceived into simple forms and colour planes to provide the maximum amount of information in the image of his observed subject.
Cézanne's geometric essentialisation of forms was to influence Pablo Picasso's, Georges Braque's, and Juan Gris' Cubism in profound ways. When one examines closely the Cubist paintings together with Cézanne's late work, it is immediately clear that a direct link exists between his work and the later discoveries of Cubism. The key to this link is the depth and concentration that Cézanne applied to recording his observations of nature. We have two eyes, and therefore possess binocular vision. This gives rise to two separate views of the world, which are simultaneously processed in the visual cortex of the brain, and provide us with depth perception, and a complex knowledge of the space which we inhabit. Try for a moment staying still and closing one eye, then closing the other and opening the first. This gives a good illustration of the idea. It is difficult to perceive depth with only one eye, and we have to rely on another perceptual sense, the sense that distant objects appear smaller than close objects. This becomes unreliable when we do not know what an object is, and therefore cannot guess the sort of size it should be. The essential aspect of binocular vision that Cézanne employed and became influential on Cubism was that we often "see" two views of an object at the same time. This led him to paint with a varying outline that at once shows the left-eye view and the right-eye view. Cubism took this a step further and Picasso, Braque, and Gris experimented with not simply two simultaneous views, but with multiple views of the same subject.
Cézanne's paintings were shown in the first exhibition of the Salon des Refusés in 1863, which displayed works not accepted by the jury of the official Paris Salon. The Salon rejected Cézanne's submissions every year from 1864 to 1869.
Cézanne exhibited little in his lifetime and worked in increasing artistic isolation, remaining in the south of France, in his beloved Provence, far from Paris. He concentrated on a few subjects: still lifes, studies of bathers, and especially the Montagne Sainte-Victoire, of which he painted many times.
Although religious images appeared less frequently in Cezanne's later work, he remained a devout Catholic, and said “When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God-made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art.”
To early 20th-century modernists, Cézanne was the founder of modern painting. Picasso called him "the father of us all".
Cézanne and Zola disagreed, and never reconciled, over Zola's fictionalized depiction of Cézanne in the novel L'Œuvre (The Masterpiece, 1886).
Death of Cezanne
In 1906, Cézanne collapsed while painting outdoors during a thunderstorm. One week later, on October 22, he died of pneumonia.
The life of his paintings
On May 10, 1999, Cézanne's painting Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier sold for $60.5 million, the fourth-highest price paid for a painting up to that time.
Some paintings arranged by period
Various periods in the work and life of Cezanne have been defined.[1] Cezanne created hundreds of paintings, of which the selections below[2] are a small part.
The dark period, Paris, 1861-1870
In 1863 Napoleon III created by decree the Salon des Refusés at which paintings rejected for display at the Salon of the Académie des Beaux-Arts were to be displayed. The artists of the refused works were considered revolutionary. They included the young Impressionists. Cezanne was influenced by their style but his inept social relations with them (he seemed rude, shy, angry and given to depression) resulted in a brief dark period, unlike either his earlier watercolors and sketches at the École Spéciale de dessin at Aix-en-Provence in 1859 or his subsequent works. The words antisocial or violent are often used. The colors are darker.[3]
L'Enlèvement (The Abduction), 1867. Depicts a classical theme, perhaps the rape of Persephone by Hades. Thought to be in impressionist style because of patches of color.
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La Pain et les Oeufs (Bread and Eggs), thought to present austerity, 1865. Signed and dated. Possibly in Spanish style.
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Le Jugement Paris (The Judgement of Paris), 1862-1864. A classical theme, not the last by Cezanne on this theme with this name.
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Le Nègre Scipio (The Negro Scipio), 1867.
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Préparation pour l'Enterrement (Preparation for Burial) often popularly but less accurately translated as "Preparation for the Funeral" or "The Autopsy", 1868-1869.
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Le Tentation de Saint-Antoine (The Temptation of St. Anthony), 1867-1869. The color and composition are quite different from his later work of the same name.
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Le Meurtre (The Murder), 1870. A murderer strikes a victim being held down by a collaborator.
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La Tranchée du Chemin de Fer (The Railway Cutting), 1869-1871. The mountain, Mt. Ste. Victoire, is contrasted with the cut.
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Impressionist period, Provence and Paris, 1870-1878
After the start of the Franco-Prussian War in July, 1870. Cezanne and his mistress, Marie-Hortense Fiquet, left Paris for L'Estaque near Marseilles, where he changed themes to predominantly landscapes. He was declared a draft-dodger in January, 1871, but the war ended in February. He moved back to Paris in the summer of 1871. Hortense was pregnant.
After the birth of his son Paul in January, 1872, in Paris, the family moved to Auvers in Val-d'Oise near Paris. Paul's mother was kept a party to family events but his father supposedly was not informed of Hortense for fear of risking his wrath. He controled the purse strings. Paul had an allowance of 100 francs. Whether Louis-Auguste (Paul's father) knew all along but chose not to say is not known.
Pissarro lived in Pontoise. There and in Auvers Cezanne and he painted landscapes together. Pissarro advised him to lighten his colors. Leaving Hortense in the Marseille region Paul moved between Paris and Provence, making the impressionist shows of Paris nearly every year until 1878. His discontinuance of that practice is thought to mark a break with impressionism.
In 1875 he had attracted the attention of the collector, Victor Chocquet, whose commissions provided a little financial relief. In March 1878 Paul's father discovered Hortense and threatened to cut him off but in September decided to give him 400 francs for his family (double the 200 Paul was asking). Paul continued to migrate between the Paris region and Provence until Louis-Auguste had a studio built for him at his home, Jas de Bouffan, in the early 1880's. Paul stabilized his residence in Estaque. He painted with Renoir there in 1882 and visited with Renoir and Monet in 1883.
L'Estaque sous la Neige (Estaque under Snow), 1870-1871.
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La Maison du Pendu (The Hanged Man's House), 1872-1873. Sometimes translated as "The Suicide's House." Refers to a known house in Auvers-sur-Oise.
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La Maison du Docteur Gachet (The House of Dr. Gachet), 1873, located in Auvers. The doctor treated Van Gogh for schizophrenia and was a collector and artist himself. He pronounced Van Gogh dead, doing a deathbed sketch.
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La Maison du Père Lacroix (House of Father Lacroix). Signed and dated 1873.
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Vue d'Auvers, 1874. One of a series under that name or one similar to it.
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Temptation of Saint Anthony, revisited, 1877.
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La Femme Eternelle (Eternal Female), c. 1877.
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Mature period, Provence, 1878-1890
In the early 1880's the Cezanne family stabilized their residence in Provence, where they remained, except for brief sojourns abroad, from then on. The move reflects a new independence from the Paris-centered impressionists and a marked preference for the south, Paul's native soil. Hortense's brother had a house within view of Mount St. Victoire at Estaque. A run of paintings, 1880-1883, of this mountain, and others of Gardanne, 1885-1888, are sometimes known as "the Constructive Period."
The year 1886 was a turning point for the family. Paul married Hortense. She had long since been known politely as Madame Cezanne (Mrs. Cezanne). In that year also Paul's father died, leaving him the estate purchased in 1859. Paul was 47. By 1888 the family was in the former manor, Jas de Bouffan, a substantial house and grounds with outbuildings. The new-found comfort of the Paul Cezanne's was by no means characteristic of their former life.
Also in that year Paul broke off his friendship with Émile Zola, after the latter used him in a novel (L'Œuvre), exposing his personal life to public scrutiny. Always reclusive, Paul was not yet ready for the public life, although he had nothing to hide. The urbane Zola probably had not understood this facet of Paul's personality, but he was never forgiven.
Maison en Provence (House in Provence), 1879-1882. The blocks of this airy picture anticipate cubism.
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Grands Arbres au Jas de Bouffan (Large Trees at Jas de Bouffan), 1885-1887.
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Châtaigniers au Jas de Bouffan (Chestnut Trees at Jas de Bouffan), 1885-1887.
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Montagne Sainte-Victoire et Viaduc sur la vallée de l'Arc (Mt. Ste. Victoire and Viaduct through the Vallée de l'Arc), 1885-1887.
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Château de Médan, 1879-1881.
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Vue de l'Estaque (View of Estaque), 1882-1883. One of many views of similar names.
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Baie de Marseille, Vue de l'Estaque (Bay of Marseilles, View of Estaque), c. 1885.
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Final period, Provence, 1890-1905
Cezanne's idyllic life at the peak of his mature period at Jas de Bouffan was not destined to occupy him for the rest of his life. He had more work to do. From 1890 until his death he was beset by troubling events but he withdrew more and more into his painting, spending long sojourns as a virtual recluse, during which he produced masterpiece after masterpiece. His paintings became well-known and sought after. They were exhibited often. He had won the respect of the new generation of painters.
The problems began with diabetes in 1890, destabilizing his personality to the point where relationships with others were strained. He travelled in Switzerland with Hortense and Paul perhaps hoping to restore their relationship but instead it delivered the coup de grace to it. Paul senior returned to Provence to live; Hortense and Paul junior, to Paris. By controlling the purse strings, as his father had done, he got her back to Provence, but in separate quarters. Paul moved in with his mother and sister. In 1891 he turned to Catholicism.
Paul alternated between painting at Jas de Bouffan and painting in Paris region, as before. In 1895 he made a germinal visit to Bibémus Quarries and climbed Mt. Ste. Victoire. The labyrinthine landscape of the quarries must have struck a note, as he rented a cabin there in 1897 and painted extensively from it. Also in that year his mother died, an upsetting event, but one which made reconciliation with his wife possible. He sold the empty nest at Jas de Bouffan and rented a place on Rue Boulegon, where he built a studio. There is some evidence that his wife joined him there.
The relationship however continued to be stormy. He needed a place to be by himself. In 1901 he bought some land along the Chemin des Lauves ("Lauves Road"), an isolated road on some high ground at Aix, and commissioned a studio to be built there. He moved in 1903. Meanwhile in 1902 he had drafted a will excluding his wife from his estate and leaving everything to his son Paul. The relationship was apparently off again. She is said to have burned the mementos of Paul's mother.
From 1903 to the end of his life he painted in his studio, working for a month in 1904 with Émile Bernard, who stayed as a house guest. After his death it became a monument, Atelier Paul Cezanne, or les Lauves.
Les Joueurs de Cartes (Card Players), 1892-1893, one of three versions.
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Sous-bois devant les Grottes au-dessus du Château Noir (Underbrush in front of the grottos above Château Noir), 1900-1904.
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Still Life, Vase with Tulips, 1890-1892.
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Nature Morte à la Bouteille de Sirop de Menthe et Tapis Bleu (Still Life, Peppermint Bottle and Blue carpet), 1893-1895.
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La Carrière Bibémus (Bibémus Quarry), 1898-1900.
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La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, 1904, one of a series.
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Bathers, 1890-1894. One of a series.
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Garçon au Gilet Rouge (Boy in a Red vest), 1888-1890. Not the only painting of this title.
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Notes
- ^ The scheme presented here is essentially that of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Some alternative names are mentioned. On the whole the various classifications tend to converge.
- ^ As reproduced for the Internet, the colors of the paintings shown in this article should not be relied upon as necessarily being accurate reproductions of the real paintings.
- ^ Some prefer "the Romantic Period", but Cezanne was not primarily interested in Romanticism.
See also
External links
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