Comparative analysis and contrasting perspectives

Whereas Plato believes that art is by definition imitation of life, Cezanne believed that the role of art was not to imitate or copy life but to enhance it, contribute to it, and comment on it. Cezanne said that art was a "harmony running parallel to nature," not a method of imitating nature (Art Institute of Chicago). Cezanne assumed a deconstructionist approach to art, which would eventually inspire the all-out shift towards cubism and abstraction. This can be seen in paintings like "Mont Sainte-Victoire," in which the landscape is constructed of various shapes that come together to form a cohesive whole: there are distinct triangles forming the roofs of the houses, showcasing the triangular yet curvilinear shape of the hill beyond, the titular Mont Sainte-Victoire.

Although he was not visual artist aesthetics were central to Plato's philosophy, and that philosophy would end up having a strong impact on the evolution of visual arts in Europe ("Plato"). Yet Plato's view of art, aesthetics, and the role of art in depicting reality can seem contradictory. While he critiques art for being an imitation of the real world, Plato also finds the real world to be lacking in substance: his theory of the forms shows how Plato believed that the world we perceive with our senses has a purer spiritual form on a spiritual dimension. "Plato saw the changing physical world as a poor, decaying copy of a perfect, rational, eternal, and changeless original," ("Plato"). This view of reality would seem to substantiate Cezanne's approach to art. It was not Cezanne's objective to simply copy the forms he saw and perceived with his senses; he wanted to capture their essential forms. This is why Cezanne became interested in distilling all forms to their simplest geometric components like circles, triangles, or squares.

Yet if Plato thought that art imitated life, and that life was itself a "copy of a Form," then art is "a copy of a copy of a Form...at best entertainment, and at worst a dangerous delusion," ("Plato"). Cezanne would wholeheartedly disagree by first pointing out that Plato is wrong about art being an imitation of life, a mere "copy of a copy of a Form." Perhaps art is a copy of a Form, not a copy of life, suggests Cezanne, which is why paintings like "Mont Sainte Victoire" capture not a realistic vision of the scene but an impressionistic one. Cezanne takes impressionism, which entails a subjective rendering of the sense-perceptions, a step further to show that art can be more conceptual and philosophical in nature: something that Plato might have appreciated. In fact, Cezanne stated, "Art is not imitation, nor is it something manufactured according to the wishes of instinct or good taste. It is a process of expression," (cited by Merleau-Ponty). In "Mont Sainte Victoire," Cezanne imparts geometric integrity onto the canvas to more closely approximate the Forms of the items. Plato may have in fact appreciated Cezanne's approach to art, for Greek artists in Plato's time were perhaps simply imitating what they saw, reproducing the copies of the forms like making realistic statues of human beings.