Cezanne

Description

Alex Danchev’s biography, Cezanne: A Life, provides a major, comprehensive new assessment of Paul Cézanne. It explores his brilliant work and restless life, showing how his vision revolutionized painting. His influence changed how artists saw and depicted the world. Danchev uses brisk intellect, rich documentation, and illustrations to detail the story of this key figure. Consequently, the book presents Cézanne’s lasting impact on the artistic imagination of our own time.

Danchev portrays Cézanne as an artist considered a madman, a barbarian, and a revolutionary during his lifetime. The narrative starts with his restless teenage years in Aix. Furthermore, it continues through the struggles of a painter plagued by self-doubt. Cézanne strongly believed that art must express temperament.

• His work sold only within his immediate circle until he reached his late thirties.
• He fiercely maintained a revolutionary belief: “to paint from nature is not to copy an object; it is to represent its sensations.”
• This core belief became a major obsession for many later artists and writers, including Matisse and Samuel Beckett.

The biography follows Cézanne’s trials. He was tormented by self-doubt despite his artistic conviction. Therefore, his commitment to his distinct style remained unwavering. He believed the painter’s role was to capture sensations, not merely reproduce reality. In addition, this foundational idea sparked the trajectory of modern art. Ultimately, Danchev offers a complete assessment of Cézanne’s ongoing influence in the artistic imagination.