Art & Design

Paul Cézanne

Documentary profile of the great French modernist whose vivid outdoor canvases blazed the trail for modern art

Paul Cézanne is generally held to be the modern painter. Arguably more than any other artist, he broke boundaries at the end of the 19th century and blazed a vibrantly colourful trail away from mere representation. As with many artists, he was a bundle of contradictions - a keen student of the great masters with a wide knowledge of historical styles and trends, most of which he then ignored; a colleague and friend of the great artists of his day, yet a man who worked virtually in a vacuum.

This excellent biographical film traces Cézanne's artistic journey to become the great modern painter. It also features superb location footage, starting with his childhood in Aix-en-Provence, which was marked by his friendship with Emile Zola. It retraces his footsteps in Paris, his encounter with the Impressionists and especially with Pissarro whom he met during his spell there in the 1860s.

Like his Impressionist friends, Cézanne favoured work outdoors, constantly searching for the essence of his subjects. His paintings open up new pictorial perspectives: the precursor of modern art, he is, as Picasso said of him, "the father of us all."

"I owe you the truth in painting, and you shall have it!" was his motto. Cézanne devoted himself body and soul to his painting, to the exclusion of any other passion. After a few short stays in Paris, he returned to the south of France, fascinated by the light there and his sacred Mont St Victoire (which he painted over 60 times, fascinated by the rugged architectural forms) and haunted by the representation of nature.

Although a close friend of the Impressionists, Cézanne never identified himself as an Impressionist as he was more concerned with looking at the structural analysis of nature (looking forward to the Cubists) rather than the fleeting fugitive effects of light that preoccupied his contemporaries.
But whether you are interested in the analysis or in the sheer force of his images, this programme is a fascinating insight into the world of the great 19th century modern painter.