The Artist

Paul Cézanne

French · 1839 - 1906 · Post-Impressionism

Cézanne is the bridge from Impressionism to everything that came after. Working alone in Provence, he reduced apples, mountains, and bathers to facets of color that suggested geometry without abandoning observation. Picasso and Matisse both called him father. The Mont Sainte-Victoire paintings, the card players, the still-lifes of fruit on tilted tables — they aren't easy paintings, but they reward the long look, and they hold their authority at any print size.