Cezanne

Paul Cezanne was one of the famous and enigmatic artists of the 19th century .

Cezanne lived between Paris and his native Aix en Provence and only left France once to travel to Switzerland late in his life.

Cezanne’s work was difficult to categorise . He is reknowned for his figurative work , still lifes and landscapes.

He painted landscapes around his native Aix en Provence dozens of times. His most famous figurative work is The Card Players. There were several versions and today they are among the world’s most valuable paintings.

Cezanne was born in 1839 and came of age during a period of radical change . France had recently emerged from the Napoleonic Wars and iin 1861 workers revolted against Government during the Paris Commune .Ten years later France was defeated and occupied by en emerging Germany and their Emperor, Napoleon the 3rd, was exiled.

Much of Cezanne’s  work is not overly political but it’s thought one of his famous figurative works, Scipio, addresses the debate over slavery which was abolished in many parts of the world during his lifetime.

Cezanne sits among the famous French impressionists who changed the world of art in the 19th century including Monet , Manet , Renoir and his fellow traveller and friend Camille Pissarro.

Cezanne died in 1906.