Reality through the eyes of Cézanne

Paul Cézanne is generally acclaimed as the father of modern art because of the substantial use of color and geometrical treatment of the subject matter in his paintings. What really distinguishes him though among his contemporaries is his effort to capture and put on the canvas the true essence of each subject, a great example of which is Still Life with Apples and Peaches (1905) executed a year before his death.

The artist was not interested in a detailed representation of the apples and peaches, but rather in creating a picture as close to reality as possible by using basic forms and vivid colors occasionally interspersed with unexpected tones that render the fruit almost palpable. Cézanne favored still lifes and landscapes because they allowed for long and painstaking observation of the subject matter, while the models employed in other cases could hardly endure the pace in which the artist worked.

Nevertheless, the characteristics of his painting can be found in all genres, as inHarlequin (1890), a study for a bigger painting, where the bold colors of the costume of the famous Commedia dell’ arte character and its clear forms create a simple yet robust result. It is not just the working method of Paul Cézanne then that makes his artworks timeless and monumental in their own sense, but mainly his overall philosophy in painting that is applied on the canvas.

Annita Apostolaki is an art professional with an MA from the Sotheby’s Institute of Art and a BA in Archaeology & History of Art. Annita is now Curatorial Assistant at the Athens Biennale and a contributing author for USEUM.