Presentation of Cezanne's main features and analysis of some artworks

1. Post – impressionism
PAUL
CÉZANNE

2. PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906) : SCIENTIFIC POST-
IMPRESSIONISM
KEY IDEAS
 Tightly organized and structured compositions analytical
approach to nature
 Methodical application of color (thick layers) that fused drawing and
modelling into a single process
 “constructions after nature”: elements from the three-dimensional world are
translated into patterns of shapes and colors arranged on a flat canvas
 Reality seen as a set of geometric solids
 Aims at the creation of an autonomous reality, parallel harmonious
dimension

3. IMPRESSIONISM
VS
CÉZANNE’S POST-IMPRESSIONISM
IMPRESSIONISM
o Aims at capturing transitory and
fleeting effects of light and
atmosphere
o Ephemeral and evanescent
quality of artworks
o Concerned with the effects of
light and reflected color
o Color used as an end in itself
o Painting is primarily a reflection
of visual perception
CÉZANNE’S POST-IMPRESS.
 Looks for the essence of life that
lies in the geometric
“decomposition of reality”
 Solid and compact quality of
compositions
 Concerned with form
 Color is seen as a tool with
which form and space con be
constructed (color – form: can’t
be separated)
 No imitation of reality but rather
a creation of a parallel
autonomous reality

4. The Card Players
btw 1890 and 1895 - oil on canvas H. 47.5; W. 57 cm Paris - Musée d'Orsay
wide planes of colour applied with
short strokes of a loaded brush
Reflection on the
bottle of wine : is
the axe of the
composition
Symmetrical
bipartition of the
composition
Two figures
constructed
on geometric
solids
e.g. arms are
cylinders
Setting: ordinary bar
Provencal peasants in
mundane activities
Diagonal and specular lines

5. Intellectual construction based on forms, spaces, perspectives, volumes +
geometrical composition of the parts
Analysis of the two card players’ position and role
ogival hat, soft
and battered
light yellow
ochre
his back isn’t
leaning back in
the chair but
projected
forward
Fluttering
corner of the
tablecloth
The player who is choosing
the card to be played –
he’s going to play
his back is parallel
to the chair
darker and more
uniform colors –
thick brushstrokes
Pipe is parallel to
the shirt’s collar
poised and
firm hat
More relaxed and cool
player – he’s waiting for
the other player
stable right angle

6. Mount Saint Victoire - Aix-en-Provence, the hometown of
Paul Cézanne
• Many oil painting and watercolors of it, the painter was deeply
associated with it
• Showed from different points of view (last years of his life)
• He builds forms (houses, fields, clouds, ..)by using harmony and
contrasts of colors
• Vigorous and flat brushstrokes applied on the canvas
• The form disappears into several facets leads to cubism

7. Mount Saint Victoire seen from Lauves 1902-1904
oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art
THE SKY:
-has the same color of the
mountain but different
thickness.
- Predominance of light blue +
grey
THE COUNTRYSIDE (natural
elements) + ARCHITECTURE: green
and ochre
LOWER PART: darker colors
suggest a thicker vegetation
overlapping of 3 different chromatic levels (horizontal sections)–
effect of geometric decomposition

8. Mount Saint Victoire seen from Lauves 1906
oil on canvas - Kansas City Museum
-One of the last views
of the mountain
-The form disappears
into many facets
- deconstruction of
nature into units
anticipates the
experiments with form,
perception and space
carried out
under cubism
1907 Salon d’Autumn (Paris) a huge posthumous
retrospective in his honour was staged