{"id":184457,"date":"2026-08-10T15:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T13:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svetslik.si\/paul-cezanne-zivljenje-tehnika-2\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T09:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T07:22:22","slug":"paul-cezanne-zivljenje-tehnika","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svetslik.si\/en\/paul-cezanne-zivljenje-tehnika\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul C\u00e9zanne \u2013 life, technique and the constructive brushstroke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul C\u00e9zanne (1839\u20131906) is the French painter regarded as one of the founders of modern painting. Out of impressionism he drew an order of his own: he laid the colour in separate, parallel strokes and built form without traditional light and shade. You will find his motifs among the hand-painted reproductions<\/a> on canvas.<\/p>\n

Aix, Zola and the move to Paris<\/h2>\n

C\u00e9zanne was born on 19 January 1839 in Aix-en-Provence. His closest schoolfriend was \u00c9mile Zola<\/strong>, the future novelist, who drew him to Paris in 1861. There C\u00e9zanne came close to the impressionists and for some years painted beside Camille Pissarro<\/strong> at Pontoise and Auvers. Pissarro taught him the light palette and working out of doors, but C\u00e9zanne soon took his own road: instead of the moment, he wanted to paint the lasting structure of the motif.<\/p>\n

The constructive stroke: modulating instead of modelling<\/h2>\n

C\u00e9zanne\u2019s technique has a name he used himself. Rather than modelling<\/em> form with light and shade, he spoke of modulating<\/em> colour \u2013 form should arise from a sequence of coloured planes, not from shadow. That is why his strokes are short, parallel and diagonal; in the catalogue raisonn\u00e9 the \u201cparallel brush stroke\u201d is even a technical heading of its own. Between the strokes he lets the light ground of the canvas breathe, and in some works the grey priming stays openly visible. It was precisely this openness that later delighted the cubists.<\/p>\n

The last years at Les Lauves<\/h2>\n

Four years before his death C\u00e9zanne built himself a studio on the edge of Aix, at Les Lauves<\/strong>. From there he painted Mont Sainte-Victoire<\/a> again and again \u2013 the same motif in dozens of versions, each time further broken into planes of colour. In October 1906 a storm caught him painting out of doors; he was carried home, and a few days later, on 22 October 1906, he died.<\/p>\n

Why he is regarded as the father of modern painting<\/h2>\n

C\u00e9zanne founded no movement, yet cubism and abstraction are hard to imagine without him. His insistence on the same motif \u2013 the mountain, the basket of fruit<\/a>, the card players<\/a> \u2013 turned painting from the scene towards the structure. The generation after him drew the conclusion that a canvas can be a self-standing construction of colours and planes.<\/p>\n

Frequently asked questions about Paul C\u00e9zanne<\/h2>\n

Who was Paul C\u00e9zanne?<\/h3>\n

A French post-impressionist painter (1839\u20131906), born in Aix-en-Provence. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern painting; his works are held by the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Museum of Modern Art and other museums.<\/p>\n

What characterises C\u00e9zanne\u2019s technique?<\/h3>\n

Short, parallel brush strokes and the building of form with colour instead of shadow \u2013 he called it modulating. Between the strokes the light ground of the canvas often stays visible.<\/p>\n

What did he paint most often?<\/h3>\n

Still lifes with apples, portraits, bathers and above all Mont Sainte-Victoire, which he recorded in dozens of versions.<\/p>\n

Can I buy a hand-painted reproduction of a C\u00e9zanne?<\/h3>\n

Yes. Our gallery offers 80 hand-painted Paul C\u00e9zanne reproductions<\/a> on canvas, in fifteen sizes and, by arrangement, in a made-to-measure size. Before delivery you receive a photograph of the work for approval.<\/p>\n