Where to See Paul Cézanne

Paintings by Paul Cézanne are held in many public collections. In France, these include the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy; Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes; Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Cheret in Nice; Musée Matisse in Nice; Musée des Beaux-Arts in Orléans; Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris; Musée du Louvre in Paris; Musée Gustave Moreau in Paris; Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; Musée d’Orsay in Paris; Musée du Petit Palais in Paris; Musée Rodin in Paris; Musée des Beaux-Arts in Quimper; Musée Saint-Denis in Reims; Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes; Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen; Musée d’Art et d’lndustrie in Saint Etienne; Musée du Prieure in Saint Germain-en-Laye; Musée de l’Annonciade in Saint Tropez; Musée du Haubergier in Senlis; Musée d’Art Moderne in Strasbourg; and Musée des Augustins in Toulouse. Outside France, one can find his work at The Saint Louis Art Museum, which holds Bathers (oil on canvas, 52 x 63 cm).

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) is best known as a Post-Impressionist painter. However, he also produced a small number of prints, mainly in the medium of lithography. Cézanne's printmaking output was limited. He created only a handful of original prints during his career. These works offer a different perspective on his artistic concerns, distinct from his paintings and watercolours. His prints often explore similar themes to his paintings, such as still life, portraits, and bathers. However, the graphic medium allowed him to experiment with line, form, and composition in unique ways. Collectors value Cézanne's prints for their rarity and insight into his artistic process. They provide a window into the mind of an artist who was continually pushing the boundaries of representation. While not as widely recognised as his paintings, Cézanne's prints are significant works in their own right.

Paul Cézanne's art remains important because later artists extracted elements from his work. The Nabis, Kandinsky, the Cubists, de Stijl, and even the Surrealists all found stimulation in his paintings. He is often seen as the origin of 20th-century painting; critics depend on his visual ideas for aesthetic principles. Cézanne united divergent sources. He revered the 17th-century classicist Poussin, aiming to "revive [him] in contact with nature." He also wanted "to create of impressionism something solid and durable like the art of museums." This highlights his role as a leader of structural or formal tendencies in 20th-century art. Cézanne moved away from Impressionism, becoming more interested in the structures of objects. His brushstrokes became more angled and descriptive. In the 1880s, he painted still lifes, conveying the essence of objects through forms, colours, and negative spaces. He abandoned traditional perspective and paint application. Cézanne painted subjects repeatedly, seeking to reveal ‘something other than reality’ and to create ‘something solid and enduring’.

Paul Cézanne is known for hisPost-Impressionist paintings, particularly his still lifes. He favoured oil paint and worked slowly, sometimes applying only a few brushstrokes per day. Cézanne rejected the quick sketching methods of Impressionism. He preferred to work in his studio, arranging fruit, such as oranges, apples, peaches, or onions, on a table with items like crumpled napkins, pottery jugs, and wine bottles. Still life was ideal for him; the objects were static and unchanging, allowing him to study them in detail over extended periods, sometimes weeks or months. Colour was fundamental to Cézanne's process. He used colour to construct forms, such as orange spheres or cylindrical jugs. Even when painting flowers, he approached colour in a deliberate way, prioritising geometric forms over lifelike representation.

Paul Cézanne, who died in 1906, had an impact on many artists, even though he felt he only partially achieved his artistic goals. He believed younger painters would carry on his work. His art, with its use of colour and deformations, became a source of inspiration for young painters in Europe during the early 20th century. Cézanne's influence was noted by the Nabis, Kandinsky, the Munich expressionists, de Stijl, Russian constructivists, and even the surrealists. Today, he is seen as a source for 20th-century painting. His approach to composition, careful arrangement of planes, and willingness to adjust forms influenced younger painters. They concluded that the structure of a painting made it a tangible reality, separate from the objects it represented. This idea became the basis of formal abstract art. His impact was particularly felt by the Cubists. Figures such as Picasso and Braque appreciated Cézanne's qualities. Others, like Delaunay, Metzinger, and Gleizes, were either pupils of artists familiar with Cézanne or associated with writers sympathetic to his views on art.

Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence. He enrolled in art school while studying law, then moved to Paris to copy paintings at the Louvre and the Musée du Luxembourg. He mixed with future Impressionists and, in 1872, painted with Camille Pissarro in Auvers-sur-Oise; Pissarro encouraged him to paint outdoors. Cézanne exhibited with the Impressionists in Paris in 1874 and 1877, but abandoned the movement and returned to Provence in 1878. Cézanne admired Nicolas Poussin, a 17th-century French classicist, and wanted to 'revive [him] in contact with nature.' He also told young artists to study Veronese, Rubens, and Delacroix. Cézanne aimed to create something 'solid and durable like the art of museums' from Impressionism. In a letter, Cézanne advised Émile Bernard to 'deal with nature in terms of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone, all seen in perspective'. Paul Gauguin had an influence early on, but Cézanne later stated that Gauguin 'did not understand me'.

Paul Cézanne produced many well-regarded paintings. These include portraits, still lifes, and works now seen as precursors to Cubism. It is difficult to name one single work as his most famous. However, several paintings appear repeatedly in discussions of his work. His paintings of Mont Sainte-Victoire, a mountain near his home in Aix-en-Provence, were a frequent subject. Cézanne returned to this motif throughout his career. The paintings became increasingly radical; nature was reduced to simple geometric shapes, and he used bold colours. One version, dating from 1885 to 1895, is in the Barnes Foundation, Merion, PA. Other notable works include The House of the Hanged Man (1873), Apples and Oranges (circa 1895-1900), and The Card Players (circa 1890-1895).

Paul Cézanne is categorised as a Post-Impressionist. This term describes late-19th-century artists who moved beyond Impressionism, each pursuing individual styles. The British art critic Roger Fry coined the term Post-Impressionism to define avant-garde art that followed Impressionism; this work then acted as a springboard, taking art in new directions. Other Post-Impressionists include Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin. These artists rejected the empiricist premises of Realism and Impressionism, creating art that was more monumental, universal, and visionary. They also rejected a collective way of seeing, developing instead a personal aesthetic. Cézanne (1839-1906) was of the same generation as the Impressionists, developing his Post-Impressionism alongside that style. In 1861, he went to Paris to study art. From 1864 to 1869, Cézanne submitted crude, dark paintings to the Salon. In 1872, he began painting with Camille Pissarro, adopting a lighter palette and more structural compositions. Cézanne aimed to create something solid from Impressionism, akin to art found in museums.