13 Interesting Facts About Paul Cézanne

Do you want to know some fun facts about Paul Cézanne?

Paul Cézanne is one of the greatest painters of the 19th century. He was born on the 9th of January 1839 in Aix-en-Provence, in southern France, from where he went on to become one his country’s most famous Post-Impressionist painters.

Cézanne is credited for bridging the late 19th-century Impressionism, which was the dominant style at the time, and Cubism early in the following century. His work pioneered fresh methods of painting and influenced innovative artistic movements of the early 1900s.

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Cézanne’s most notable works include Apothéose de Delacroix (1894), Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier (1894), The Card Players (1890–1895), The Bathers (1905), and Mont Sainte-Victoire (1906).

Read on to find out more fun facts about Paul Cézanne.

13 Interesting Facts About Paul Cézanne

1. Paul Cézanne is often considered the father of modern art

Exhibiting with the Impressionists in the late 19th century, Cézanne adopted from them plenty of concepts about modern art.

The French painter worked to develop a perfect combination of personal expression, naturalistic representation, and abstract pictorial order.

He managed to present multi-viewpoint, which primarily for broke with Classical single-point perspective. This provides depth to a painting and the illusion of three dimensions.

2. Paul Cézanne was born rich

The son of Louis-Auguste Cézanne, a wealthy banker in southern France, Paul Cézanne didn’t have to worry about finances.

His father, a self-made man, was a wealthy dealer and exporter of felt hats before he co-founded a successful banking firm called Banque Cézanne et Cabassol (Cézanne and Cabassol) which made him even richer.

3. He was born illegitimate

Paul Cézanne was born out of wedlock, which was a rare occurrence at the time of his birth in 1839. His parents eventually got married when Cézanne was 5 years old – in 1844 – and his younger sister Marie was around 2 or 3.

4. Cézanne started drawing as a child

Cézanne was already drawing during his childhood, using the colors his father bought him. He did not take drawing and painting seriously at the time, however.

He was 15 years old when his real talents were fully revealed, during his time as a student at the Academy of Drawing.

5. Cézanne’s father wanted him to follow in his footsteps at the family business

Louis-Auguste Cézanne hoped Paul would follow in his footsteps and manage the family bank, the Cézanne and Cabassol bank in Aix-en-Provence, which was later renamed Cézanne and Son.

As we all know, the great French artist did not grant his father’s wishes, rejecting the legal and banking careers and instead delved into art. This was a career the older Cézanne deemed grossly impractical.

6. Paul Cézanne had a lifelong friendship with Emile Zola

Emile Zola came from a poor family in Aix-en-Provence, where he and Paul Cézanne were classmates at the elementary school and eventually became inseparable friends.

Some claim this friendship was the happiest time of the French painter’s life.  The two went swimming together and did stuff all boys do growing up.

Back in their childhood days, Cézanne protected Zola. The roles were reversed in their adulthood, when Zola became a successful writer and Cézanne rarely sold a painting.

7. Apples were among Cézanne’s favored subjects for sentimental reasons

As already mentioned, Paul Cézanne protected his best friend in their childhood days. There was an instance where young Cézanne defended Zola from school bullies. As a token of gratitude, Zola presented him with a basket of apples.

These fruits would become the great painter’s favorite subject for his still life paintings almost his whole career.

8. Zola inspired Cézanne to write some poetry

Paul Cézanne’s talents were not limited to painting. Thanks to his best friend Emile Zola’s inspiration, he was also able to pen some poetry.

In addition, most of his letters to family and friends have been published long after his death.

9. Paul Cézanne was influenced by Pissarro and van Gogh

One of Paul Cézanne’s biggest influences was the Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter, Camille Pissarro, whom Cézanne met when he was working as a copyist at the Louvre. There he also met other famous figures of the time such as Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley.

After spending time with Pissarro, Cézanne began painting outdoors using bigger assortments of colors. His focus had shifted to more vibrantly colored rural landscape scenes since.

It was also during this time that the French artist met the Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh, who also influenced Cézanne’s style.

As a result, the French painter’s style became more fluid as the brush strokes became less dense.

10. He devised his own unique painting method

Paul Cézanne was said to hate messiness and he thought Impressionism did not heed the idea of “structure.” And as he preferred form and order, he wasn’t very wild about Impressionism.

Like all the Impressionists, though, Cézanne often painted outdoors directly before the subjects of his paintings.

However, unlike the others, he used color not as an end in itself but rather as a tool with which to construct order and form. He worked by drawing a succession of strokes and lines to form the objects and landscape he was painting.

This unique method eventually led him to becoming the father of modern art, as his own unique style became modern expressionism.

11. Cézanne was a diabetic, had back problems, and was severely depressed

Paul Cézanne was 51 when he was diagnosed with diabetes in 1890. Some say this may have induced some concurrent disease of the retina.

During his 60s, Cézanne was complaining of pains in the back which kept him from moving around freely.

The painter also developed a severe depression, which contributed toward alienating him from his family and friends.

12. He only had his first solo exhibit at the age of 56

Cézanne’s first solo show took place in 1985 at the gallery of art dealer Ambroise Vollard in Paris. He was 56 years old at the time.

It was the beginning of his increasing recognition in the world of art. Many other exhibits ensued such as that which took place at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris in 1899, followed by the one at the Centennial Exhibition also in Paris the following year.

Another solo show took place at Paris’ Salon d’Automne in 1904. That same year, he also had a solo exhibition at Berlin’s Galerie Cassirer.

12. Cézanne left 1,300 paintings and many incomplete works upon his death

Cézanne died of pneumonia on the 22nd of October in 1906 in his hometown in Southern France. He was 67.

Cezanne left behind an artistic heritage that comprises of 900 oil paintings and 400 watercolors, and many incomplete ones. This does not include the number of paintings Cezanne had deemed imperfect and hence destroyed.

13. Cezanne’s son was also named Paul

Paul Cézanne, Jr. was born to Paul, Sr. and Hortense Fiquet in 1872. Like the older Cezanne, Paul, Jr. was born out of wedlock. Paul Cezanne and Hortense Fiquet only got married when their son was 14 years old,  on 28 April 1886.

Paul Cézanne, Jr. became friends with Jean Renoir, Auguste Renoir’s son. The sons of two famous French artists developed this friendship despite their 22-year age gap, with Cezanne being the older of the two.