Just as the modern world was in transition at the end of the nineteenth century, so was the world of French art changing dramatically. With new generations of artists and new movements like the Impressionists, the very conception of art was in flux. Respected painters like Picasso and Matisse have pointed back to a single artist for helping carry along that transition: a Post-Impressionist painter by the name of Paul Cezanne.

Cezanne hailed from Provence in the southern part of France. Unlike many of his peers, Cezanne enjoyed a fairly prosperous life due to his father's career as a successful banker. But it was against his father's wishes that the young man went to Paris in 1861 to become an artist, where he studied under the great Impressionist Camille Pissarro. Although the Paris Salon rejected most of his early paintings, Cezanne gained a few minor exhibitions. However, he never enjoyed major popularity in life and produced most of his art from a sense of deep isolation. He died from pneumonia in 1906 and his paintings were exhibited in 1907 at the Salon d'Automne. It was only then that Cezanne's influence truly had an effect on the avant-garde.

What set Paul Cezanne's style apart from other Post-Impressionists is his appreciation for changes in perspective. He was fascinated with optics and geometry, rejecting the Impressionist style for its lack of structure. Most of his elaborate subjects were born as simple geometric shapes, from which he added detail to create symmetry in an otherwise natural landscape or scene. In general, his most common subjects were still life objects, portraits, landscapes, and the depiction of bathers.

On that note, one of Cezanne's best known paintings is Les Grandes Baigneuses ("The Bathers"). Although it was left unfinished--being produced in the year he died--it's widely held to be Cezanne's masterpiece. The scene depicts a series of nude women bathing, although they're painted in the abstract. From the details, you can see how Cezanne sought to break away from traditional styles, using a harmony between the figures and the landscape to suggest something geometric than a simple pastoral scene. The painting is also rich in earthy tones, creating a feeling of density instead of an airy quality like most traditional pieces. While it seems like a simple piece, The Bathers would have a huge impact on future generations of artists. It's possible, for example, to see signs of its influence in Pablo Picasso's own painting of nude females, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.

You can find Paul Cezanne's paintings at museums like the Guggenheim in New York City, the National Gallery in London. and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Image by Wally Gobetz on Flickr