Paul Cézanne, considered one of the greatest painters of the last hundred years, was born in 1839 in Aix-en-Provence in southern France. The son of a wealthy banker received his first instruction at the College Bourbon, while was attending night classes at the School of Fine Arts in Aix. At 23 years and was in Paris to begin his artistic career. He met Camille Pissarro and, influenced by him, he began painting with impressionist art. It incorporated the new concepts of light and color, but soon it differed from the impressionists because, while they sought the print collection, Cézanne concentrated its efforts on the construction and layout of the table, avoiding the effect of strong light and shadow and seeking a neutral light to enable it work with a constant color. He repeated several times that the painter had to find the cone, the cylinder and the sphere in nature, demonstrating thereby the presence of geometry in living things. That is why the retrospective exhibition of his paintings, done in 1907, a year after his death, was of great value to all the artists who followed him, especially the Cubists and abstract trends.
Cézanne painted landscapes, portraits, still lifes and compositions with human figures in his studio and outdoors, showing the fundamental tension lines and simple but solid structures through a balanced composition of weight, volume and color.
Among the highlights are works by Cezanne Card Players, the brewer's wife, Bathers, The boy with the red vest and the famous series The mountains of Santa Victoria.