The true biography of the great French artist Cezanne

MOSCOW. A detailed biography of Cézanne by Alex Danchev was published at the ABC Publishing House.

The book “Cezanne. Life ”(Cézanne: A Life), written by Alex Danchev, a professor at the University of St Andrews. The study of the creativity and personality of the outstanding post-impressionist Danchev has been engaged in for many years. Cézanne: A Life came out in English at Pantheon and Profile in 2012. A year later, The Letters of Paul Cézanne was released at The Getty and Thames & Hudson with detailed comments, witty and apt English equivalents, chosen for non too literate messages of the artist’s father. Danchev’s translations helped to learn more about the personality of Cezanne’s wife, ambiguous and underestimated. In 2013, Cézanne: A Life won the Book of the Year nomination according to the famous Apollo publication.

Danchev coped brilliantly with the task of debunking various myths and “searching” for the real Cezanne, a master who developed his own unique style and had a huge impact on many artists. Paraphrasing the famous aphorism about the significance of the Gogol’s “Overcoat” for Russian literature, we can say that Bacon, Matisse, and Kandinsky “left” Cezanne. The responsibility of this scientist allowed Danchev, methodically and meticulously working with various sources, to avoid mistakes and unforgivable fiction. The book gives a meeting with a noble, intelligent, selfless and talented person, and not a rude hermit, as he is often represented by unscrupulous biographers. Painting was the work of his life, salvation and a cure for all adversity. Daily work, seven days a week, without discounts on the weather, exhausting diabetes and a heavy belongings behind him - brushes, paints, canvases. He fulfilled the promise a month before he passed away to die at work. Returning to a thunderstorm after studies, he lost consciousness and died of pneumonia, leaving behind hundreds of paintings and the great mystery of his life.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru