Paul Cézanne | Everything in Nature is modeled like spheres, cones and cylinders

Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence, on January 19th, 1839. We will know a little of his concepts that were fundamental to the artistic innovations of the 20th century, namely for the cubist movement.

Paul Cezanne

Paul Cezanne was a French painter in the post impressionist movement. His representations of the natural world, based on geometric planes, paved the way for Cubism and other modern artistic movements.

Paul Cézanne focused on exploring the underlying formal structure of still lifes, portraits, and landscapes. Instead of describing the general impression of a scene, in his paintings, Cézanne sought to articulate the underlying organization of the landscape and suggested that it is constructed from simple geometric components.

The bathers, Philadelphia Museum of Art

In a famous letter to the symbolist painter Émile Bernard, Cézanne explains:

«Everything in Nature is modeled like spheres, cones and cylinders. We must learn to paint based on these simple forms and only then will we be able to do everything we want.»

His landscapes and representations of Nature are particularly well known.

He follows an analytical style, seeking to represent Nature through lines, planes and colors arranged in a certain way. The painter presents us with three-dimensional images, creating perspective through the juxtaposition of warm colors with cold colors.

His landscapes rarely present the human form because his interest lies in exploring the visual properties of shapes and colors and their interrelationships.

Innovation and influence

Cézanne will be, possibly, the most influential of Post-Impressionist artists, being responsible for forging a link between Impressionism and Cubism.

Its innovations were immensely influential for the masters of Modernity, such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. The latter considered him even as “the father of us all”.