Paul Cezanne (January 19, 1839 - October 22, 1906)

"A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art."

-Paul Cezanne

The Card Players

Often described as the 'Father of Modern Art', Cezanne was a visionary ahead of his times. The 20th century art has been greatly influenced by his innovative style of painting, composition, use of color and perspective. Cezanne has also inspired many generations of modern artists. Paul Cezanne paintings are unique as the he was highly creative and passionate about color, and his brush strokes were solid, durable and above all structured. Picasso has been quoted as saying that 'My one and only master . . . Cezanne was like the father of us all". Picasso also developed Cezanne's two-dimensional compositions into 'Cubism'.

Paul Cezanne paintings are considered as great symbols of Post-Impressionism due to his analytical approach to nature and his unique method of building form by using color. His style of painting has been revered by Fauvists, Cubists, and entire generations of avant-garde painters.

Cezanne began painting in 1860 in his place of birth Aix-en-Provence and later moved to Paris to study. Paul Cezanne paintings during the early phase (1860s) of his career were based on romantic and classical themes. The colors were dark, and the brush strokes were expressive and similar to Eugene Delacroix's traditional style.

Soon the brooding color schemes were replaced by vibrant tones and Paul Cezanne paintings started depicting the outdoors. He was encouraged by Camille Pissarrom the Cezanne's 'Bathers' (1874-75) was one of the first paintings of this theme and demonstrated a more developed style and tonality that won a permanent place in his oeuvre. The 'Bathers' drew inspiration from two sources - nature and memory - which would become a consistent theme for all Paul Cezanne paintings including 'The Fishermen (Fantastic Scene)' (1875).

During the still life painting phase (mid 1870 onwards), Cezanne began to drift toward the geography and symmetry of form and color by using tonal variations or 'constructive brush strokes' in order to provide depth to objects in his paintings. Paul Cezanne paintings such as 'Still Life with Jar, Cup and Apples', 'Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses (1890's) are mature pieces of work which portray the master's grasp of the Impressionist style of building forms just from the use of color and by composing exciting backgrounds by expert use of perspective. Paul Cezanne's still life paintings allow every object freedom in the picture and attribute characters crafted through the use of extremely subtle radiations of color.

Cezanne began painting landscapes of his birthplace Aix and a small fishing village near Marseille from 1882. In an attempt to achieve the main objective of creating depth, he devised a system of layers, which eventually created series of horizontal planes thereby drawing the viewer's attention into the realms of the landscape.

Examples of this technique can be seen in 'Mont Sainte-Victoire', 'Viaduct of the Arc River Valley', and 'The Gulf of Marseille Seen from L'Estaque'. Paul Cezanne paintings much like the 'Gardanne', which depicts a landscape created with intense volumetric geometric patterns is the painting that laid the foundation of Cubism.

Some other highly-regarded Paul Cezanne paintings include the five pictures series (1890) of peasants' playing cards. The second in this series - 'The Card Players' is feted as the finest figure compositions painted by the artist.

Cezanne received immense recognition and worldwide appreciation, but posthumously. During his lifetime, Paul Cezanne was the ultimate outsider and completely misunderstood individual. Success for him came little and too late but left behind irreplaceable artistic legacy!

"It took me 40 years to find out that painting is not sculpture." - Paul Cezanne