As digital art continues to redefine our perceptions of the real world, creatives of all kinds can still learn a thing or two from Paul Cézanne’s legendary imprint. Revered by some as the “Father of Modern Art”, curator and art historian Rosalind McKever summarizes Cézanne’s work to capture sensations – “both the physical sensations of the world and the way we perceive it and how they combine with our internal sensations.”

The Art Institute of Chicago has just lifted the veil on a groundbreaking retrospective showing how the artist created his work and why it takes on new relevance today. Curated by Gloria Groom and Caitlin Haskell, “Cézanne” includes 80 oil paintings, 40 watercolors, a series of drawings and two comprehensive sketchbooks. The curators have gone to great lengths to present the work in the way the artist would have wished, including infrared X-ray analysis, as well as the removal of synthetic varnishes from eight of the oil paintings , leaving the surface of the canvases bare to emphasize the brush marks. .

“When you do that and you start thinking about painting really at the brand level, what you start to have is a type of paint that’s pretty honest about how it’s built and makes you think about how of which it is constructed.” Haskell said in a statement.

Inspired by the 20th century avant-garde, Cézanne was once collected by Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, who revered Cézanne as “the greatest of us all”. Several of the artworks once owned by Matisse and Picasso are featured in this exhibition – the first major retrospective of the artist’s work in the United States in more than 25 years.

“What you start to see over the course of the exhibition is an artist trying to figure out how to make a painting for himself and doing it by building his work feeling by feeling,” Haskell added.

“Cezanne” will be visible at The Art Institute of Chicago until September 5, 2022.

In addition, SFMOMA will present one of the largest exhibitions on Diego Rivera to date.

The Art Institute of Chicago
111 S Michigan Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60603