"I had a dream the other day. I had written a
beautiful book, a wonderful book, which you had
illustrated with beautiful, wonderful pictures. Both
of our names shone in letters of gold on the first
page and, inseparable to this fraternity of genius,
passed on to posterity."
Letter to Paul Cézanne from Emile Zola
From Paris, early 1860’s
Paul Cézanne (French, 1839-1906), photo-portrait, 1861 (year of first stay
in Paris)
“The Master of Aix”
(left) Paul Cézanne, Self Portrait, 1878-80. Compare with
(right) Pablo Picasso, Portrait of Vollard, 1910 (Analytic Cubism)
What forces our interest is Cézanne’s Anxiety. That’s Cézanne’s lesson.
Pablo Picasso
Paul Cézanne, Academic study: Male Nude, 1862
Paul Cézanne, Father of the Artist (Louis Auguste), 1866
Paul Cézanne, The Abduction, 1867
Paul Cézanne, The Murder, 1870
Stock, Caricature of Paul Cézanne with the two painting rejected by the Salon
jury of 1870. Portrait of Achille Emperaire, 1867-68, oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x
48 in. (200 x 122 cm), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. Intentionally lacked all the
elements of charm, grace and finish so much appreciated by the jury.
(left) Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Louveciennes, 1871. Compare with
(right) Paul Cézanne, Louveciennes, 1872, 73 x 92 cm, oil on canvas,
private collection
(left) Paul Cézanne, The Hanged Man's House, 1873, oil on canvas, 22 x
26”, Musée d'Orsay, Paris – breakthrough and beginning of mature style.
(right) Pissarro, Red Roofs: Auvers sur Oise, 1877
Cézanne, The Bay from L’Estaque, 1885, 31x39”, Chicago Institute
Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victorire Seen from les Lauves, 1902-6, o/c, 25 x 32”
Auguste Renoir (left), Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1889. Compare with
Paul Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire, 1889. The artists painted together.
Paul Cézanne, Still Life with Basket of Apples, 1890-95, oil on canvas
24 x 31,” The Art Institute of Chicago
Cézanne, Large Bathers, 1906 (the year he died, unfinished), o/c, 6’10” x
8’2,” Philadelphia MA
Nicolas Poussin, Mars and Venus, o/c, 1626
Paul Cézanne, Three Bathers, 1879-82, owned by Henri Matisse
(right) Henri Matisse, Joie de Vivre, 1906 (Fauvism)
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avigon, 1907 (8’ tall) Post-lapsarian
Paul Cézanne, Large Bathers, 1906 (6’10” tall) Pre-lapsarian
Georges Seurat (French, 1859-1891: 31 years)
Neo-Impressionism
(Divisionism, Pointillism, Scientific Impressionism, Chromo-luminism)
Overheard at a Neo-Impressionist exhibition in 1894 :
“It’s done mechanically?” “No, Monsieur, by hand.”
The Eiffel Tower, 1889, 9 ½ X 6”, Fine Arts Museums, San Francisco
Georges Seurat, Academic Study, c. 1875-1879, chalk drawing
Seurat, Embroidery: The Artist’s Mother, 1882-83, conté crayon on ingres
paper 12 x 9 “
Georges Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte,
1884-86, o/c
6’ 9” x 10’ Art Institute of Chicago. Artist was 25 years old
Detail of La Grande
Jatte (dog next to
monkey) showing
Pointillist technique
Georges Seurat, Child in White, and Couple, preparatory drawings for La
Grande Jatte,1884
Seurat, oil studies for La Grande Jatte
Seurat, La Grande Jatte compared with
Puvis de Chavannes, The Sacred Grove, 1886, 181 x 419”
La Grande Jatte compared with Pierro Della Francesca, The True Cross, 1466,
early Renaissance Fresco
Paul Signac (French 1863-1935), Neo-Impressionism
Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones
and Tints: Portrait of M. Félix Fénéon in 1890, 1890, o/c, 29 x 36”
Paul Signac, The Gulf of Sainte Tropez, 1892
compared with Henri Matisse, Luxe, Calme, et Volupté, 1904
Signac and Matisse painted side by side in Sainte Tropez