Cezanne

Paul Cezanne is unquestionably one of the most influential artists of the nineteenth century. He is regarded as a pioneer of modernism who deliberately broke with the laws of perspective in his works and constructed the world out of color and form. He thus gave decisive impetus to Cubist painting and the development of abstraction. The catalogue accompanies a comprehensive exhibition at the Fondation Beyeler, which is honoring this central artist in its collection with a solo show for the first time in its history. The exhibition and catalogue focus on the last and most significant phase of the French painter's career and highlight key themes from his later years, including still lifes, portraits, landscapes, and scenes of bathers. With around seventy oil paintings and watercolors, the exhibition and catalogue allow us to experience form, light, and color in Cezanne's groundbreaking works—qualities that have influenced artists across generations and continue to inspire them to this day.

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.”