Paul Cézanne

Key facts

Lived

1839–1906, French

Movement

• Post-Impressionism

Works held in

9 museums^[1]

• Tête de vieillard (Old man head)

  Musée d'Orsay

  Paris, France

  118 works

  

  Museum detailsMap
• Standing Male Bather; Puget's Atlas

  Philadelphia Museum of Art

  Philadelphia, United States

  34 works

  Museum detailsMap
• Le Jardinier Vallier (The Gardener Vallier)

  National Gallery

  Trafalgar Square, United Kingdom

  24 works

  Museum detailsMap
• Maisons sur la colline, Provence (Houses on the Hill)

  White House

  Northwest, United States

  16 works

  

  Museum detailsMap
• Portrait of Paul, the Artist's Son

  Princeton Art Museum

  Princeton, United States

  20 works

  Museum detailsMap
• Three Bathers

  Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris

  Petit Palais, France

  14 works

  Museum detailsMap

Plan your visit to see Paul Cézanne →

• What is Paul Cézanne's most famous work?+

  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).
• What should I know about Paul Cézanne's prints?+

  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.
• What style or movement did Paul Cézanne belong to?+

  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.
• What techniques or materials did Paul Cézanne use?+

  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.
• What was Paul Cézanne known for?+

  Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) is known as one of the most original and influential artists of the 19th century. Born in Aix-en-Provence, France, Cézanne initially studied law, but also enrolled in art school. He eventually abandoned law to pursue art in Paris. Cézanne associated with the Impressionists and, in 1872, painted outdoors with Camille Pissarro in Auvers-sur-Oise. He exhibited with the Impressionists in Paris in 1874 and 1877; however, he moved away from Impressionism. He was interested in the structures of objects, rather than the effects of light. His brushstrokes became more angled and descriptive. In the 1880s, Cézanne painted many still lifes. He aimed to convey the essence of objects through forms, colours, and negative spaces. In doing so, he abandoned traditional perspective and paint application. Cézanne painted some subjects repeatedly, seeking to reveal ‘something other than reality’ and to create ‘something solid and enduring like the art of the museums’. His innovative approach had a significant impact on the development of Cubism.
• When did paul cezanne die?+

  Paul Cézanne died in 1906 at the age of 67.
• When did paul cézanne die?+

  Paul Cézanne died in 1906 at the age of 67.
• When did Paul Cézanne live and work?+

  Paul Cézanne was born on 19 January 1839 and died in 1906. The son of a banker in Aix-en-Provence, he maintained connections to the area throughout his life, although he also worked around Paris. Cézanne first went to Paris in 1861 to visit his childhood friend Émile Zola. There, he encountered Camille Pissarro, who introduced him to painting outside. They worked together at times for many years, especially in the 1870s. Cézanne is considered a Post-Impressionist artist, although he was a contemporary of the Impressionists and exhibited with them in 1874 and 1877. His paintings were not widely available; in the 1880s, they could only be acquired through colour-merchants such as Père Tanguy. Cézanne did not exhibit much after the 1870s, until the dealer Vollard promoted his work in 1895. Alongside his paintings from nature, including still lifes, Cézanne continued to paint invented subjects. The romantic figure scenes of his early period gave way to compositions of bathers.
• Where can I see Paul Cézanne's work?+

  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).
• Where was Paul Cézanne from?+

  Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence, France, on 19 January 1839. His family had Italian roots, originating from Cezana, a small town in Piedmont. They moved to France in the seventeenth century, settling in Besançon. Cézanne's father, Louis-Auguste, established a bank in Aix-en-Provence. At the age of thirteen, Paul was sent to boarding school at Bourbon College, where he studied for six years. There, he formed close friendships with Emile Zola and Jean-Baptiste Baille. The three friends spent their summers exploring the area, visiting places such as the Château Noir and Mont Sainte-Victoire. These childhood journeys instilled in Cézanne a love for the local scenery, which later became a recurring theme in his art. In 1859, his father bought the Jas de Bouffan, an eighteenth-century country house in Aix-en-Provence. This house became the Cézanne family home for forty years, and Paul often worked there. He began painting outdoors at Jas de Bouffan, developing the approach that influenced many artists.
• Who did Paul Cézanne influence?+

  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.
• Who influenced Paul Cézanne?+

  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'.