I was having a new years walk through Paris, covering quite some distance to push away all things that troubled and clouded my brain and creating some space to breathe.
I decided to visit the exhibition of 'Cezanne en Paris' at the small Musee de Luxembourg. The museum is tiny indeed and guess that they have some 50 paintings and drawings there now...not a lot and several paintings are landscapes or elements that are purely realistic and can be seen elsewhere. Still, I took away 2 things.
First the interesting relationship between between writer Emile Zola and Paul Cezanne from when they were around 16/15 years old until the moment that Zola wrote a book some 40 years of friendship later, about a strugling artist, who showed only a few similarities with Cezanne and in the end commits suicide.
Second is the technique that Cezanne uses in some of his paintings where he almost sways his strokes on the paper/canvas...it dazzles, it moves, it creates enormous dynamics. It is interesting to know that Cezanne grew up among the evolution of impressionism, and also some time worked outside to capture landscape. At the same time he seemed convinced of realism, which also caused Zola to write about it; in a caring way he observed his friend Cezanne following this 'wrong' path of realism knowing the new artistic flow of impressionism.
Things I take away are (i) a confirmation that we need to seek interaction to undrstand what we paint, exchange ideas to test them and innovate. And (ii) to dare standing on the shoulders of my forefathers, to keep studying their techniques and see where I can improve or innovate. For example I started to experiment with similar strokes as Cezanne and although not perfect yet I am sure I will integrate this in my coming abstracte work. I am convinced it will enrich it and create more dynamics in the painting, especially when mixed with abstract shapes.
All in all quite inspiring start of the new year.
Bonne annee to all.
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