Paul
Cezanne was born on January 19, 1839, as the
son of a wealthy banker in the southern French
town of Aix-en-Provence. Cezanne develops artistic
interest at an early age and joins his boyhood
companion and author Emile Zola in Paris in
1861, after many disputes with his father over
his desire to dedicate himself to painting.
Cezanne's stay in Paris lasted only six months.
Though attracted by the more radical art forms
in Paris, admiring the innovating works by Eugène
Delacroix, Gustave Courbet and Edouard Manet,
he destroys many canvases during depressive
moments and returns home full of self-doubt.
A year spent working with his father, however,
convinced him to try a painter's life again.
Cezanne's early works were dark and composed
of heavy, fluid pigment suggesting the moody,
romantic expression of previous generations.
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