Status Updates From Cézanne

Château Noir (1900)

La Barque et les baigneurs (1890)

La dame en bleu (1900-04)

This is one of many portraits of Cézanne's wife, Hortense Fiquet.

La femme à la cafetière (1890-95)

'[Cézanne's] image was subject to different laws than the normal perceptual space. Each object claims its own space within the image and yet still wants to be closely linked with the other elements in the picture. Cézanne thus did not keep his still lifs with a linear perspective and a fixed vanishing point, but instead used a multi-layered, fractured perspective that gives the objects a subjective sense of space.'

'Cézanne also painted large figure paintings in Aix, often putting his models in uncomfortable poses for hours. Madame Cézanne frequently had to serve this purpose and there are some pictures of her from this period that show her with a rather strict, absent demeanour. The estrangement between the couple had reached a point where Cézanne found himself able to paint his wife as "objectively" as an apple or a tree.'

La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue de Montbriand (1882-85)

Le Noir Scipion (1866-68)

Paul Alexis lisant à Zola (1869/70)

'Quick-tempered, but otherwise reserved and moody, Paul had few friends growing up, but he was unflinching in standing up for those who were weaker. He met his younger schoolmate Émile Zola at the Collège Bourbon by coming to his aid during a schoolyard brawl. Zola's father was in town working on a dam project near Aix. Soon the two romantic enthusiasts and nature lovers became close friends.'

Compare:


La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue des Lauves (1904-1906)

The "Montagne Sainte-Victoire" series reminds me of Monet's Haystack series, but markedly more abstract.



Montagne Sainte-Victoire (1904)

Le pont sur la Marne à Créteil (1888)

'[Cézanne's] work is characterized as demanding in the pursuit of his stated goal of "realization", while delivering themes common since the Renaissance such as portraits, figures, landscapes, and still lifes. However, what Cézanne made from these traditional genres and how he transformed the motifes into an entirely new style of painting made him one of the greats of modern art [...].'