Grand pin et terres rouges cezanne biography
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Of all the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, it is surely Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) who is the most enigmatic. During the twentieth century, his paintings were claimed by almost every new modernist style, from Cubism to abstract art, as its precursor. Whole books have been devoted to trying to explain how he ‘projected’ views onto his canvases, their complexity and frequent exceptions only serving to cast doubt on that approach altogether.
In this article, I’m going to look at some of the evidence in his oil paintings as to how he made landscapes during the later part of his career when he was working in the countryside around his home in Aix-en-Provence.
Cézanne learned to paint landscapes in the north, when he worked alongside other Impressionists when they were painting in front of the motif. Among the most important influences on his Impressionist style was Camille Pissarro, who even then was known for his ability to paint en plein air very briskly.
For Cézanne, painting outdoors was protracted rather than sketchy. At first, this caused him problems when he completed different passages in a view with their shadows. This view of The House of Père Lacroix, Auvers-sur-Oise, painted in 1873, shows this well, as his shadows indicate tha
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File:Grand pin gibber terres rouges, by Missioner Cézanne.jpg
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Grand pin et terres rouges FWN 274 1895 72 x 91 cm
It was a time in-between. Cezanne had become more and more dissatisfied with Impressionism; it wasn’t just the constant hubble and bubble of the annual Impressionist Exhibitions, with the critics’ clamour of criticisms constantly culminating in crude and often just downright rude jibes at Cezanne personally. It wasn’t even because Cezanne did not enjoy the company of his fellow artists, though some were more tolerable than others! nor was it the entertainment of the café life of Montmartre – though he could only take so much! No, Cezanne had not achieved in his time as an Impressionist, what he wanted to; or rather, he had been an Impressionist artist, for sure – he rather reluctantly would admit to it later in life – but it had not satisfied him: it was not sufficient. Yes, maybe necessary, but not sufficient. And so, he journeyed into a space in-between.
In-between what? He knew not. For what he yearned for, had not yet ever existed.
It was to be a long time in-betwee