Cezanne - Artist Slides Script
Pre-slides: Focus slide; “And now, it’s time for Art Lit”
Slide 1: Words We Will Use Today
Still Life: a painting or drawing of purposefully arranged inanimate, or non-living, objects.
Perspective: the art of drawing objects to give the correct impression of their size and position in relation to each
other when viewed from a particular point.
Composition: in art, composition describes the way things are arranged or placed on a canvas.
Slide 2 – Introducing Paul Cezanne
This is Paul Cezanne (Say-zahn). He was born in Aix-en-Provence (Ex-on-Prah-vahns), France on January 19th,
1839. Cezanne was a Post-Impressionist. This was a group of artists in the late 1800s and early 1900s that focused
on color, lines, and how a subject made them feel. The Impressionists who came before this group, like Monet,
captured how natural light affected the objects they painted. But Post-Impressionists painted how a scene made
them feel at the time, often through their use of color.
How do you think Cezanne was feeling at the time he painted the picture of himself on the right? How do you know?
(Answer: dark colors, exaggerated furrowed brow, slight frown, etc.)
Slide 3 – Cezanne’s Father
This is a painting of his father, Louis-Auguste Cezanne, a wealthy banker who did not want his son to be an artist. It
appears to be an innocent painting of a man in an armchair reading the paper, but it holds a lot of clues to how
Cezanne felt about his father’s opinion.
Keep in mind that Cezanne’s father did not want him to be an artist. Do you notice anything about this painting that
might show how Cezanne rebelled against his father? Answer: The painting on the wall is one of Cezanne’s. He also
depicts his father reading a newspaper called "L'Événement“ (lay-ven-mawn), for which Cezanne’s friend wrote an art
column. But his father never read L'Événement! He preferred a more conservative publication.
Slide 4 - The Four Seasons (1860)
In 1857, Cezanne enrolled in the Free Municipal School of Drawing. One year later at the age of 19, to follow his
father’s wishes, Cezanne attended law school but continued his drawing lessons. In 1860, while in law school,
Cézanne painted these four murals on the walls of his family’s summer home.
These paintings helped convince Cezanne’s stern father that his son should study art. Although his father did not
like Cezanne’s career choice, he provided a generous allowance that would support Cezanne in Paris, which is
where he went in 1861 to become an artist.
Slide 5 – Portraits of Uncle Dominique (1866)
Cezanne enjoyed painting portraits of his family and friends. In the fall of 1866, he painted these nine portraits of
his Uncle Dominique, who amused his nephew by posing in various forms of professional attire and funny hats.
Each of these paintings was made quickly using a palette knife and thick layers of paint. The colors are dark,
neutral and highly contrasting. This technique was typical of his early work, which is often referred to as Cezanne’s
“dark period”.
Uncle Dominique’s real profession was a bailiff, or jail worker. Can you guess some of the professions he is dressed up
as? Answers: lawyer (bottom row, 3rd from left), monk (top row, 2nd from left), artist (bottom left).
Cezanne Slide Script
Slide 6 – Still Life with Jar, Cup, and Apples (1877)
In the 1870s, Cezanne abandoned dark contrasting colors and thick layers of paint for more colorful paintings with
a lighter feel. This is one of his most famous paintings, called “Still Life with Jar, Cup, and Apples.” He would spend
hours in his studio arranging objects until he felt the composition was just right. He especially liked painting fruit,
namely apples. He would often re-use his many props in different arrangements. This jar and cup, for example,
appeared several times in his still life paintings.
Slide 7 - Cezanne’s Studio & Still Lifes
On the top is a current photo of a portion of Cezanne’s studio in France. Many of his original props have been
carefully preserved. Take a look at the paintings below the photo. Can you spot some of the objects he used from
his studio in these paintings?
Slide 8: Cezanne’s Perspective: Kitchen Table (1888-1890)
This is a painting called Kitchen Table. At first glance, it appears to be a group of items placed on a table in the
middle of a room, but by the traditional laws of perspective, there are many mistakes. Follow with your eyes the
front edge of the table, from left to right. Notice anything? How about the basket of fruit sitting on the back corner,
the ceramic creamer, or the precariously placed piece of fruit in the front center of the table? Do they look secure?
How are you able to see the side of the ceramic sugar bowl at the same time you can see the top of the blue jar
behind it?
These are actually not mistakes, but rather capture Cezanne’s unique perspective as he painted. Traditionally an
artist stands or sits in the same place as he or she paints, but Cezanne did not. He may have been at eye level when
he painted the sugar bowl and basket, but then stood up to get a better view of the blue jug, and then shifted his
weight from right to left when he was painting the edge of the table, etc. This unique perspective almost gives
movement to inanimate objects.
Did you notice this until we pointed it out? Most people don’t! And once you see it, you can’t un-see it!
Slide 9 – Experimenting with Watercolor, Self Portrait (1896), The Turn in the Road (1895)
In the last two decades of his life, Cezanne lightened up his palette even more by experimenting with charcoal and
watercolor. This self portrait on the left is far from the dark, menacing young man we saw on the first slide.
Cezanne continued painting portraits, still lifes and landscapes - many of his hometown of Aix-en-Provence (Ex-onPrah-vahns) and surrounding areas - until his death in 1906.
Slide 10 - Project Inspiration
Cezanne once said, “With an apple I will astonish Paris!” Are you ready to create your own astonishing apples like
Cezanne?
Continue to Project Steps….
Cezanne Slide Script