Paintings Of: Paul Cezanne, Madame

¶ … paintings of: Paul Cezanne, Madame Cezanne (Horrense Fiquet) in Red Armchair with stripped Skirt and Henri Matisse, the woman with the Hat, 1905

Paul Cezanne's paintings mostly represents the Impressionism style of the late 19th century towards the introduction of the cubism style that became famous in the twentieth century and left an incalculable and many artistic and painters of the early nineties followed that style of art in their work, one of whom was Henri Matisse, an artist of the early nineties. Matisse work often reveals the signs of Cezanne work as he was a follower of the Paul's style of art. Commenting on Paul's style, Matisse himself once quoted that "if you only knew the moral strength, the encouragement that his remarkable example gave me all my life." The two paintings mentioned above are the creations of each of these famous artists of that time and in this article a detailed comparisons of the both the works is diagnosed and explored in detail. In the following paragraphs the comparisons between the art styles, the meaning, the logic and idea, and the impressions that a viewer drives from viewing these paintings is described in detailed.

The first picture in discussion is the painting of Madame Cezanne, a famous model of that time Horrense Fiquet, who was the mistress of Paul Cezanne painted by him in late eighties. This picture is one of the many still-life paintings Paul completed during his life time (Did you Know, n.d.).

The art style used in this hand painted oil abstract highlights Paul style of using thick and exploratory brush strokes. A clear example of the tone and the color used is also an example of his preference of using dark colors and planer fields. The emotions depicted in the picture seek the attention of the observing eye. The real life elegancy and glory of the lady in the picture is un-ambiguously highlighted in the painting as Madame Cezanne was a famous model of her time and she was known for her superior life style and elegant dressing. However, ones who are aware of the personal ups and downs of the couple can easily depict a sign of Paul personal emotions and feelings in the picture. The way the features of the lady's face are painted, it depicts the dull eyes and dull face depicting the signs of discomfort and discontent the lady faced during her relation with Paul. According to one review posted on a website about Paul Cezanne's still-life paintings of his wife it was maintained that Paul and his wife never understood each other and didn't get much out of the marriage. This is why although the lady dutifully posed for her husband at several occasions but these portraits clearly show her with a remote and inscrutable look portraying eyes that never meet the viewer's (Tate, 2007).

The title of the painting on other hand is very powerful and depicted an image of an empowered lady sitting in a red arm chair. The words "stripped skirt" not only literary defines the type of the dress but also describes the lady's personality as she was a fashion icon of her time and was famous for her dress sense and elegancy. Hence the title itself depicted her as a lady with a powerful personality (Art Galleries, 2009).

The other painting under discussion is the art work of Henri Matisse titled as "The woman with a Hat." This is also a hand made oil painting produced in 1905 and the women in the picture are believed to be Matisse's wife Amelie. The art style used in his picture by the painter was different from that of his precedor, Paul Cezanne. Cezanne painting is an example of his impressionist style with the use of real life colors and expressions in the painting while Matisse used unnatural brighter and expressive colors and tones, creating an art piece that is an example of Fauvism. Fauvism was a painting style that was famous in early nineties and was characterized with the use of emphasized painterly qualities and use of strong and brighter colors over the realistic and representational values featured in impressionism. The painting was characterized by seemingly wild brush work and stringent colors. Also the art style posed a high degree of simplification and abstraction, a common character of paintings by Fauves.