Cezanne, an ordinary man with extraordinary talent

                               
 
                                   Paul Cezanne followed his heart fully for his art 
                                even though he had a lot of criticism from outside, 
                          and his most beloved friend Emile Zola tore his heart out,
                                 his great passion for what he believed in remained.
                            He never gave up and his dignity was never surrendered.

Cezanne was born in 1839 in Aix-en-Provence, in the South of France. He didn't get much recognition from the public throughout his whole life at least until his later years. Even through many years of rejection, he continued to develop his works and believed in himself with no doubt. Nothing wavered his commitment to accomplish his dream.

                                                                  House of Pere Lacroix, 1873

-- He used expressive short and rapid brushstrokes for the trees and the reddish orange colour of the roof of the house in the centre creates a strong contrast with the freely painted vegetation. --

He attended law school at the University of Aix though, complying with his father's wishes from 1858 to 1861, but he couldn't resist his artistic side and finally his father allowed him to go to Paris where he studied at the
Academic Suisse in France and met Pissarro who was to remain a very precious friend over the many years.

                L'Estaque and the Gulf of Marseilles, 1883-5,  Metropolitan Museum  of Art, New York

-- This was Cezanne's frequently painted place, a costal town south of his birthplace at Aix. This painting gives 
    an evenness of tone with colour. --

Cezanne tried a lot of different styles of paintings in 1860s but they were very dark and brooding. He had difficulty finding his artistic voice. He was interested in impressionism at one point, but felt his views differed from them. Cezanne grew to become more interested in shapes as an abstract appeal. In the early 1890s, having developed confidence in his style through practice, one of his best-known works he created was 'The card players'

                                                   The card players, 1890-2, Louvre, Paris

-- This work shows a lot of abstract qualities. Their gloomy dark face and  greyish colour of the clothes make us
    feel the sadness of their life. The bottle on the table doesn't seems like it helps cheer them up either. --

He was also working regularly in the Forest of Fontainebleau near Paris and found some abstract patterns based on nature. 

                               Landscape with rocks and trees, 1895, Kunsthaus, Zurich

-- Cezanne using individual brush marks freely in this painting created his own pure inner thoughts of images in
    nature. --

     "But you know all pictures painted inside in the studio will never be as good as the thing done outside"

Cezanne frequently painted still life such as homely objects. He loved to experiment with his own ideas on these carefully decorated settings.

                                               Still life, 1895-1900, Jeu De Paume, Paris

-- This picture shows how deliberately he posed the items and this dancing like folded white cloth and the
    solid object on the top of it make a beautiful rhythm of their own. --

                                                       Vessels, Basket and Fruit, 1880-90

-- He was more keen on creating harmony of shapes and colours rather than framing a real object on a table.
   His playful mind of viewing it from a different perspective led to such a big development. --

He inherited a big sum of money from his father's death in 1886 but he wanted to have a simple, quiet life in Aix, his home town, and decided to set up a new space nearby. In his last decades, he was occupied in painting landscapes near his region where he is from. One of the scenes was called Mont Sainte-Victoire, not far from his studio. He depicted it so many times but it was never the same.

                                        Monte Ste Victoire, 1904-6, Philadelphia Museum of Art

-- He especially worked on this as a series which was one of the most important motifs of early 20th century 
    art. It shows that he had almost reached his desired goal of what he wanted to achieve as a painter. --

He was gradually recognized by his fellow painters and even poets and writers in his late years. Most importantly his thoughtful friend Pissarro introduced the art dealer Ambroise Vollard to Cezanne. He gave him his first solo exhibition in Paris in 1895. Two of his works among them were sold to the National Gallery
in Berlin, and finally he was fully appreciated by the public later.

Cezanne was described by Picasso as "My one and only master... Cezanne was like a father of us all".
His art was  the foundation of modern art. Many artists started to wonder what they saw, how they saw and interpreted and what they were looking at, all because of Cezanne's amazing work. He influenced so
many Post-Impressionist artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Seurat.

Paul Cezanne is considered one of the finest artists in the history of the world. and his persistent love toward art along with nature and believing in himself all his life will touch us deeply.

                                        Paul Cezanne was an modest, bold, adventurous man
                      who devoted what he loved the most solely with an incredibly high spirit.