Paul Cezanne was a French painter who was born in Aix-en-Provence, in southern France, where he would live most of his life. Cezanne lived from January 19th 1839 to October 22nd, 1906. Cezanne is well known for transitioning the art from the 19th century impressionism and moving towards a more modern style to kick off the 20th century. He is known as a post impressionist painter and is also associated with the name of Father of Modern Art. This is most likely because of his use of color, design and unique compositions.

His earliest art is known for its dark tones and earthy colors, as well as, the heavy and fluid pigments employed to the page. His style all changed when he met Pissarro, in Paris, and studied under him. His style then made a dramtic turn for impressionism, during the years of 1872-73. Pissarro taught him the techniques for painting in nature and in fresh air, En Plein Air. He told Cezanne to use more primary colors and observe the nature lighting, as opposed to his earilier used of earth tones, and heavy blacks.
The piece above is called, House of Hanged Man, done in 1873, and is one of his first impressionist pieces. It was featured in the first ever impressionist exhibition in Paris, in 1874. Unfortunately none of the impressionist shows ever went well, and especially not for Cezanne. He faced most of the criticism and fled back to Aix.
This is another one of Cezanne's earlier impressionist works, Auevers, Panoramic View, done in 1873-75. Once he started painting with an impressionist influence he shifted to using brighter hues and depicting images of nature, farms and rural villages, such as the one to the left.

Soon after many years of isolation a man named Vollard got Cezanne a solo exhibition in Paris in 1895. This was a big deal for Cezanne, he even signed his works, normally he wouldn't. This famous gallery, which got him the recognition he deserved, featured many peices of his, including the well known, Basket of Apples, done in 1893. This is a ground breaking painting for Cezanne. What makes it so unique is the completly impossible compostition. Looking at the image more closely you'll notice one table corner is significantly higher than the other, the bottle of wine is swaying, the cookies are odly stacked. The ironic part is, the compostion is what matters most in the piece. The style of the painting is similar to that a northern Baroque still life, for the fact that it is dynamic and has an asymmetrical compostition.





















In Cezanne's final years, he delt mainly with figurative works, like his ever popular painting, The Bathers, 1899-1904 and Madame Cezanne in the Greenhouse, 1890. Although, he never felt fully satisfied with his figurative works, as many of his others. A lot of his pieces remain unfinished and incomplete, he even got so frustrated with his works that he would destroy them. However his followers all embraced his naturalistic style, he became renowned for it.

Cezanne had a real sense of color and form, despite his distorted figures and subject matter, he knew how to make an over all composition work extraordinarily well. His technique and style cannot be matched. With his passion for art and his unique post impressionist style of painting he pushed the art world into the twentieth century. I would agree with anyone who said he was the father of modern art, because as much as everyone was influenced by him, no one was really quiet like Paul Cezanne.