Paul Cézanne was born in the south of France on Jan. 19, 1839. Cézanne is often called the Father of Modern Art. This title might have surprised him. A shy, sensitive boy, Paul grew up in a wealthy but strict home. Although his father owned the local bank, he was very harsh with his only son. Like Monet's father, Cézanne's dad did not approve of the life of the artist. He insisted that Paul study law. Paul went to law school, but spent most of his time taking art classes. Eventually, his father gave in and Paul went to Paris to study art. There he met other painters such as Monet and Renoir. But Cezannne was very temperamental, and did not make friends easily. Although he was not popular, his fellow-painters admired his work. Cézanne tried to get into the Paris Salon many times, but he was always rejected. When he exhibited with the others at the first Salon de Refusés, Cézanne's work was laughed at there also. Finally, he left Paris in disgust and returned to his home in the south of France to paint.

Cézanne's odd dome of a head, almost a sphere, is oddly reminiscent of his still-life apples. It was the critic Roger Fry who first compared this self-portrait to a Cézanne apple. "He has painted himself as objectively as a piece of fruit."

Jug and Fruit, courtesy ArtServe

He also saw no reason to follow the time-honored rules of perspective and vanishing point. Mountains in Cézanne's pictures don't get smaller in the background, as one would expect. In his still lifes, tabletops have a way of sliding off to the side or tilting upwards. These details did not worry Cézanne. He was not concerned with correct perspective, but organized his paintings by color and shape. He did not care about capturing the fleeting moment, as had the Impressionists. He used solid blocks of color to give his painting the look that he wanted. Cézanne spent his career trying to find a perfect balance between nature and art.

Take a look at this still life below. Unlike Monet, Cézanne would take a long time to complete a painting. Often, he took so long that the fruit would begin to rot! Cézanne was able to solve the problem of perspective by making the fruit overlapping, and by using brighter colors in the foreground. Knowing that the eye is drawn toward red, yellow, and orange, Cézanne used these colors to make the fruit appear closer. As other artists before him, he used blues and greens to make objects recede. In this still life, we see Cézanne using simple forms to create a balanced painting.

Although almost unknown in his lifetime, Paul Cézanne was recognized as a rare talent shortly after his death. His intense colors, reliance on simple forms, and lack of concern with the rules of perspective seemed very modern and new. Just as Monet influenced Cézanne's art, Cézanne's work certainly inspired the work of another rebellious artist, Pablo Picasso. Picasso actually called him, "my one and only master."

Cézanne's art had begun to be shown and seen across Europe, and it became a fundamental influence on the Fauves, the cubists, and virtually all advanced art of the early 20th century.

Materials Needed:

paint

pencil

Criteria You'll Be Graded On:

1. Must have painted at least three pieces of fruit (try to make it an odd number)

2. At least two pieces of fruit overlap.

3. The edge of paper is touched on at least two sides.

4. You've covered at least 75% of the paper with color.

5. Short, parallel strokes of color are used....NO SMOOTHING.

6. Looks like you've spent at least a FULL three hours on the project.