Cézanne, Portraits

Paul Cézanne has painted almost two hundred portraits during his life, including twenty-six self-portraits and twenty-nine portraits of his wife, Hortense. Curiously there never has been a single exhibition dedicated to the portrait work of the one Picasso regarded “his one and only master”. Studying these artworks in a chronological perspective reveals precious insights into the evolution of his style. One can linger on the variations that appear in the continuity from his style and way of working.

This book explores Cézanne’s aesthetic peculiarities and topics in this specific exercise that the portrait is, exposing us to the most personal side of his body of work, maybe the most intimate one.

Brice Tourneux chose the geometrical Wigrum, which references sans serifs from the 1930s, to compose the whole book.

Musée d’Orsay / Gallimard | 256 pages | 21,6 × 28,8 cm