Cezanne

Paul Cezanne is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of the nineteenth century and a key pioneer of modern art. By consciously breaking with the traditional rules of perspective, Cezanne reimagined painting as a construction of color, form, and structure. His radical approach laid the foundations for Cubism and played a decisive role in the emergence of painterly abstraction. This richly illustrated catalogue accompanies the major exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler, which is dedicating a comprehensive solo exhibition to Cézanne for the first time in its history. Both the exhibition and the catalogue focus on the final and most significant phase of the artist’s career, shedding light on the central themes of his late work: still lifes, portraits, landscapes, and the iconic bather scenes. Featuring around eighty oil paintings and watercolors, the catalogue offers an in-depth exploration of form, light, and color in Cezanne’s groundbreaking works. These defining qualities have profoundly shaped generations of artists and continue to resonate within contemporary art today. A special highlight of the catalogue is an illustrated biography of Paul Cezanne, presented as a visually compelling graphic novel, which provides an accessible and engaging introduction to the artist’s life and legacy. An essential publication for readers interested in modern art, nineteenth-century painting, and the origins of abstraction. Paul Cezanne's (1839–1906) oeuvre builds a bridge between Impressionism and abstraction. Through formal reduction to basic geometric elements and a new type of perspective, he became a pioneer of Cubism. The surroundings of his French hometown of Aix-en-Provence were often the subject of his paintings, in which he sought to achieve a “harmony parallel to nature.”