Mad Man or Genius - Paul Cézanne

It seems that when I research a piece of art or a particular artist, I find some common ground where I can related to what they do or how they felt about their art. Isn't that what our favorite pieces do for us? We can relate? They reach right out of the canvas into our hearts and minds, changing the way we feel. Certain colors and combinations along with an interesting composition are activate our emotional side.

Paul Cézanne rarely considered his paintings finished. His friend and dealer Ambroise Vollard observed that “when Cézanne laid a canvas aside, it was almost always with the intention of taking it up again, in the hope of bringing it to perfection.” One consequence of this was that Cézanne rarely signed his or dated his works making it difficult to determine the chronology of his works.

When I read this, I could relate.  I will start a painting and put it aside for sometimes months.  It clears my head because I get too close to the work and I can't see what is wrong with it.  Sometimes I take a photo of a painting and then quickly look at it.  The defects will appear almost immediately.   

Cézanne did not have the luxury of a camera of instant gratification so maybe that's why he set them aside.  

He knew that when he looked at it later, he would see the defect.  My sister always tells the story of how I would not part with work when I was a teenager because I always said, "It's not done."  Oils allow for that kind of dedication.  Other mediums are tougher, like watercolor or ceramic sculpture.  The clay listens to no one and forces closure whether you like it or not.

I also have a hard time signing my work for the same reason.  Sometimes I will frame a painting temporarily for a show when I know it needs work.  I fully intend to go back and revise something.  Sometimes I do, sometimes I do not.  I need to disengage from a work for a while and I have paintings that are six months to a year old that I have not touched.  I can't let them leave the studio at this point but I'm burned out on the daily engagement and need to put them aside.  Although it seems glaringly obvious to me, some viewers will not see it.  I am lucky that most of my own viewers are not professional art critics.

Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism. Both Matisse and Picasso are said to have remarked that Cézanne "is the father of us all."

Like many of us, we try to please our parents. Cézanne went to law school to please his wealthy banker father but he took drawing lessons on the side. His father eventually came around and supported Cézanne's decision to pursue his passion. He supported him in death with an inheritance that kept him drawing and painting.

He took a long time with his paintings, another characteristic for which I share.  It would take him hours to paint a small area.  It had to be right.  He may spend hundreds of hours on a still life and even more on a portrait.  He believed that you had to capture the moment.  Once it is gone, it is gone forever.

In the late years of his life, from 1890 until his death, he withdrew further into his painting, spending long periods as a virtual recluse. His paintings became well-known and sought after and he was the object of respect from a new generation of painters.  He was also suffering from diabetes. He had a hard time with relationships because of the disease, depression, and his intense focus. His work reveals a profound depth of feeling. 

I get that too. There are times that I just want to left alone and get really aggravated that I have to participate in the lives of others. It's crazy of course and I relent and do the right thing but there are days that I would love to just hole up in some remote area with nothing but my thoughts and art supplies. My ideal life would be to live in a warehouse somewhere with a bed thrown in the corner to take some naps. The rest of the space would have different areas where I could work on several different projects and mediums at one time. I'm sure that I would come to my senses and be more kind to the people that love me but it is definitely a fantasy that plays out in my mind all the time.  There never seems to be enough time.  

I love the skulls.  I love how Cézanne explored a great range of subject matter.  

Each of his paintings seem ready to explode beyond its limits and surface. Each seems to be the conception of an artist who could either be a madman or a genius. 

A week before he died, Paul Cézanne collapsed as he was doing a painting.  He always said he wanted to die painting.

The world will likely never know, as Cézanne's true character was unknown to many, if not all, of his contemporaries.  The more I learn about him, the more I want to know more about how he felt and viewed the world.  Something tells me that we would have a lot more in common than what is obvious.  Of course, neither of us would have time to find out.  There is work to be done.

By: Renee Bangerter