Photo source: Wikimedia Commons, Paul Cezanne
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) was a French painter best known for his contributions to impressionism and modern art. Art curator John Elderfield said,
"Picasso is taking Cezanne's elements - the cone, cylinder and sphere - into Cubism. Matisse is taking Cezanne's interest in the wholeness and the clarity of figures. They're taking almost opposite interpretations of what they see in Cezanne: Picasso is understanding it as decomposition, and Matisse is understanding it as composition." (Quoted in Matisse & Picasso by Paul Trachtman)The rest of this post is some quotes from Cezanne.
Impressionism
"Painting is first and foremost an optical affair. The stuff of our at is there, in what our eyes are thinking... If you respect nature, it will always unravel its meaning for you." (Quoted in Cezanne by Joachim Gasquet)
"Everything we look at disperses and vanishes. Doesn't it? Nature is always the same, and yet its appearance is always changing." (Quoted in Cezanne by Joachim Gasquet)
"When I'm outlining the skin of a lovely peace with soft touches of paint, or a sad old apple, I catch a glimpse in the reflections they exchange of the same mild shadow of renunciation, the same lovely the sun, the same recollection of the dew." (Quoted in Cezanne by Joachim Gasquet)
"...the way to learn is to look at the masters, above all at nature, and to watch other people painting..." (Quoted in Cezanne by Joachim Gasquet)
