Paul Cézanne (January 19, 1839 – October 22, 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of 20th-century abstract art and modern painting. Often called the “father of modern art,” Cézanne bridged Impressionism and Cubism through his innovative use of color, form, and structure. His most famous series include Mont Sainte-Victoire landscapes, still lifes with apples, and portraits of bathers. Largely unrecognized during much of his life, his persistent exploration of perception and geometry profoundly influenced artists such as Picasso, Matisse, and Braque.

Pablo Picasso famously declared, “Cézanne is the father of us all.”

Below, we list some words of wisdom from Cézanne, drawn from his letters, conversations, and recorded statements.

“The truth is in nature, and I shall prove it.”

“Genius is the ability to renew one’s emotions in daily experience.”

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of knowledge.”

“Treat nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone.”

“Keep good company, read good books, live in the light of the mind.”

“I want to make of impressionism something solid and durable, like the art of the museums.”

“The painter must enclose himself within his work; he must respond not with words, but with paintings.”

“One had to see nature as no one had seen it before.”

“Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one’s sensations.”

“A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.”

“An optical impression is presented to us as an enigma.”

“Art is a harmony parallel with nature.”

“The artist must see all things as if he were seeing them for the first time.”

“I am more a primitive of my art than a master.”

“The secret of drawing is to correct constantly.”

“I am always making discoveries, either of color or form.”

“The landscape thinks itself in me, I am its consciousness.”

“Painting is damned difficult — you always think you’ve got it, but you haven’t.”

“I paint as if some blind man was looking over my shoulder.”

“The most seductive thing about art is the personality of the artist.”

“One must never let the brush become more important than the painting.”

“The contour eludes me.”

“I owe you the truth in painting, and I will tell it to you.”

“I am the primitive of the way I have taken.”

“One should not say that I have painted apples, but that I have painted red.”

“Painting means thinking with your brush.”

“The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation.”

“Optics, that is to say the knowledge of the general effect of light, governs everything.”

“I have sworn to die painting.”

“The most important thing in painting is to find your own walk.”

“When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God-made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art.”

“For an Impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, but to realize sensations.”

“We live in a rainbow of chaos.”

“Right now a moment of time is passing by! Capture its reality in paint!”

“Everything we see falls apart, vanishes. Nature is always the same, but nothing in her that appears to us lasts. Our art must render the thrill of her permanence.”

“Shadow is a colour as light is, but less brilliant; light and shadow are only the relation of two tones.”

“An art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t an art at all.”

“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.”

“There are two things in the painter, the eye and the mind; each of them should aid the other.”

“I am progressing very slowly, for nature reveals herself to me in very complex forms; and the progress needed is incessant.”

“Pure drawing is an abstraction. Drawing and colour are not distinct; everything in nature is coloured.”

“To my mind one does not put oneself in place of the past, one only adds a new link.”

“The awareness of our own strength makes us modest.”

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