Biography for Paul Cézanne

Childhood

Born at Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on January 19, 1839, Cézanne went to school in Aix and became friends with the novelist Emile Zola. He also studied law there from 1859 to 1861 whilst continuing to study drawing and despite the resistance of his father he soon decided to concentrate on painting joining Zola in Paris in 1861. Cézanne's father eventually supported his decision and the substantial inheritance he later received allowed him to live comfortably.He met Camille Pissarro in Paris and exhibited with the Impressionist group in 1874 and 1877. Cézanne's style changed after this period and his work falls into three phases. In the early 1870s with the help of Pissarro he absorbed the Impressionist principles of color and lighting and loosened up his brushwork whilst in the late 1870s he entered his "constructive" phase which was characterized by the building up of hatched parallel brushstrokes. He continued in this style until the early 1890s when he returned to Aix and concentrated on still lifes, studies of bathers and successive views of nearby Mont Sainte-Victoire. Cézanne died in 1906, by which time his work was being shown and praised across Europe, influencing many artists from the early 20th century, most notably the Fauves and the Cubists.