Cézanne Portraits in Context

David Gariff, senior lecturer, National Gallery of Art. Paul Cézanne sought to systematize the spontaneity of impressionism and to find an analytical way of seeing the world. His paintings express a new vocabulary of art and a new interpretation of the nature of visual experience—moving away from art as purely visual sensation and toward a more cerebral approach. Cézanne’s belief that “there are two things in the painter, the eye and the mind; each of them should aid the other” was taken to heart by the young Pablo Picasso. In 1943, Picasso declared that Paul Cézanne was “my one and only master.” Indeed, with the artistic achievement of Cézanne, modern art would chart a new and challenging course. Senior lecturer David Gariff explores Cézanne’s revolutionary art in this lecture presented at the National Gallery of Art on July 10, 2018.