Paul Cézanne was a painter of French origin known for being part of the post-impressionist movement, but above all he was established in history as “the father of modern painting.”
It is said that his works were a necessary transition for the way of painting in the 20th century, also becoming known as “the painter’s painter.” To better understand his way of thinking and his artistic work, here we will a review of the best phrases of Paul Cézanne commented.
To remember the great work and influence of this painter, here we will see a list of the best phrases by Paul Cézanne, which show us his way of applying creativity and art to life.
14. Work that achieves progress in its own craft is compensation enough not to be understood by imbeciles.
Dedication is the key to progress.
15. Nature must be treated through the cylinder, the sphere, the cone, establishing a global perspective, so that each side of an object, of a plane, is directed towards a central point.
The way nature should be seen in art.
16. The drawing is produced by the contrast or the relationship of tones.
The way the drawing is born.
17. Light and shadow are just the relationship of two tones.
They are two poles that exist in the same world.
18. It’s not about painting life, it’s about making painting alive.
Each painting is full of life when the artist places part of it in it.
19. The more harmonious the color, the more precise the drawing is. When the color is richer, the form is in fullness.
Color is an essential part of what we see in the drawing.
20. Everyone is crazy about the impressionists, what art needs is a Poussin made more in accordance with nature.
Proposing a necessary change for impressionism.
21. Drawing and color are not different, as you paint you draw.
They are elements that complement each other and blend into one.
22. There is a logic of colors to which the painter should adapt, which is not the logic of the brain.
24. Color is where our brain and the universe meet.
A direct relationship with the universe.
25. Nature is not on the surface, it is deep down.
Nature is more than what we see with the naked eye.
26. The Louvre Museum is the book in which we learn to read. But let’s get out of there to study beautiful nature, let’s try to extract its spirit, let’s try to express ourselves following our personal temperament.
The museum as a teacher that encourages us to find our place in the world.
27. An art that is not based on feeling is not art.
Art is not free from feelings.
28. Painting nature is not copying an object, it is the realization of a sensation.
Drawing nature is harmonizing with the world.
29. I could paint for a hundred years, a thousand years non-stop and I would still feel like I didn’t know anything.
There are things that we will never fully know.
30. Don’t be an art critic. Pinta. Salvation is found there.
We all have the ability to enjoy art.
31. The painter has two things: sight and brain, both must help each other: we must ensure that they develop mutually; sight through natural vision, the brain through the logic of organized sensations, which gives the means of expression.
The way the artist develops his most powerful tools.
32. Keep good company, i.e. go to the Louvre.
The Louvre museum as a reference for art.
33. We live in a rainbow of chaos.
Chaos is part of life.
34. When I judge art, I take my paint and put it next to an object made by God like a tree or a flower. If it clashes, it’s not art.
The particular way in which he judges art.
35. My nervous system is weakened, only functioning oils can sustain me.
The weakness he felt when he was already in his last moments.
36. One does not replace oneself with the past, one more than adds a new link.
The past will always be part of us.
37. Light is not a thing that can be reproduced, but something that must be represented using something else… Colors.
Light is a part of colors.
38. When I outline the skin of a beautiful peach with soft touches of paint or a sad old apple, I glimpse in the reflections that exchange the same soft shadow of renunciation, the same love of the sun, the same memory. of the dew.
The way he dedicates himself to the details.
39. Nature is the best instructor.
Nature was the best teacher for Cézanne.
40. A moment in time is passing right now!… We must become that moment.
Motivating us to be part of the present and live.
41. We should not be satisfied with memorizing the beautiful formulas of our illustrious predecessors. Let’s go out and study beautiful nature.
Once again he reminds us that there is no point in learning everything if we are not going to take things on our own.
42. Why do we divide the world? Does this reflect our selfishness?
What’s the point of dividing the world and creating more chaos?
43. Literature is expressed through abstractions, while painting, through drawing and color, concretizes sensations and perceptions.
The power of literature.
44. The truth is in nature, and I will prove it.
Demonstrating that all inspiration is found in nature.
45. The painter displays what has not been seen.
It does not offer a vision of the world that we do not know.
46. The prism is our first step towards God, our seven beatitudes.
Art as something divine.
47. I ask you to pray for me, for once age has passed us, we find solace only in religion.
Being aware of the passage of time in your life.
Related article: “The origins of religion: how did it appear and why?”
48. The painter must enclose himself within his work, but must respond not with words, but with paintings.
Painting is a form of expression.
49. If I think, everything is lost.
A person who preferred to let himself go.
50. The most seductive thing about art is the very personality of the artist.
An enigma that can be observed in each work of art of his authorship.
51. Time and reflection change the view little by little until we come to understand.
Time is a cruel and wise teacher.
52. You have to hurry if you want to see something, everything disappears.
There are things that don’t last forever.
53. The sun penetrates me without noise like a distant friend that stirs my laziness, fertilizes it. We produce life.
The sun is the greatest giver of life in nature.
54. Art should make nature eternal in our imagination.
One of the objectives of art according to the father of modern art.
55. The eye absorbs… The brain produces forms.
The way they both work together.
56. It’s not just about looking and copying, it’s also about feeling.
When feelings are placed within a work, it comes to life.
57. You must think. The eye is not enough; you need to think too.
To capture something on canvas, you must first see it in your mind.
58. Sometimes I imagine colors as if they were living ideas, being pure reason with which to communicate.
The way you observe colors.
59. The eye absorbs… The brain produces forms.
60. Pure drawing is an abstraction.
Each artist has their own way of expressing themselves.
61. Impressionism, what does it mean? It is the optical mixture of colors…that are broken down on the canvas and reassembled by the eye.
Explaining what impressionism is about.
62. People who say that the artist is always inferior to nature are idiots! He is parallel to it. At least, of course, he does and intervenes voluntarily.
For Cézanne, every artist must be in tune with nature.
63. Everything we look at disperses and fades away. It is not like this?
Things don’t stay the same.
64. Under this fine rain I breathe the innocence of the world.
The breadth of your feelings with nature.
65. The artist makes things concrete and gives them individuality.
Each painter offers his personal essence in his works.
You may be interested: “What is imagination?”
66. In my ideal of a good painting; there is unity.
What he thinks is a perfect work.
67. The more the colors harmonize, the more precise the drawing becomes.
It’s all about harmony, even in chaos.
68. It is so good and yet so terrible to stand in front of a blank canvas.
A mix of sensations that can inspire or consume you.
69. If isolation tempers the strong, it is the stumbling block of the uncertain.
Talking about isolation, something he was well known for.
70. I lack the magnificent richness of color that animates nature.
It is impossible to replicate nature perfectly.
71. Is art really the priesthood that demands the pure of heart that belongs to it completely?
A criticism of what some think is art.
72. You say that a new era in art is preparing; you felt coming, continue your studies without weakening. God will do the rest.
Every era brings new changes.
73. The landscape becomes human, it becomes a thinking being, alive within me.
The landscape mixes with the human essence when it is captured on a canvas.
74. Right now a moment of time is fleetingly passing by! Capture its reality in paint! To do that, we must put everything else out of our minds.
The way the greatest paintings emerge.
75. I try to make perspective through color.
His way of creating perspective in drawing.
76. But if there is the slightest distraction, the slightest setback, especially if I interpret too much one day, if today I get carried away by a theory that contradicts yesterday’s, if I think while I paint, if I get in the way, yuck! everything falls apart.
Distraction is the punishment of many artists.
77. I can tell you that you can do things on the surface… but when you dig deeper, you automatically go to the truth.
The truth is found within us.
78. But there is better. Simplicity, be direct. Everything else is just a game, just building castles in the sky.
Simplicity can defeat any extravagance.
79. I see colors, I joyfully strive to convey them to my canvas as I see them. They organize themselves however they choose, the old-fashioned way. Sometimes that makes a photo.
Using the technique of photography to perceive colors in your mind.
80. I am more of a friend of art than a paint producer.
This is because art was a natural part of his life.
81. I have come to the conclusion that it is not really possible to help others.
Help is effective in those people who want to be helped.
82. Nature for us men is more depth than surface, hence the need to introduce into our light vibrations, represented by reds and yellows, a sufficient amount of blue to give the sensation of air.
About what nature means to some people.
Related article: “The 5 ages of History (and their characteristics)”
83. The painter owes loyalty to peace, not to the logic of the brain. If he abandons himself to that logic, he has lost himself.
Logic can be an enemy in art.
84. You really need to see and feel your subject very clearly, and then, if I express myself with distinction and power, there is my Poussin, there is my classicism.
Inspired by who he admired most.
85. The world does not understand me and I do not understand the world, that is why I have withdrawn from it.
Having a bad relationship with society’s standards.
86. What I try to translate to you is more mysterious, it is intertwined in the very roots of being, in the relentless source of sensations.
His art leads us to think further.
87. I would like to put reason in the grass and tears in the sky.
His way of mixing nature.
88. Reading the model and carrying it out are sometimes things that take time to arrive.
Everything has its time, even in inspiration.
89. Long live the sun that gives us such beautiful color.
The sun offers us all its energy.
90. Here, on the edge of the river, I could be busy for months without changing my place, just leaning a little more to the right or to the left:
Nature being your home.
91. I would like to combine melancholy and sunshine.
For Cézanne, joy has certain shades of melancholy.
92. Basically, I don’t think about anything when I paint.
He lets himself be carried away by what he feels.
93. You feel a healthy need to be sincere. You prefer to dismantle your canvas than invent or imagine a detail. You want to know.
Holding the truth in esteem.
94. In that Renaissance (Cellini, Tintoretto, Titian…) there was an explosion of unique truthfulness, love for painting and form… Then come the Jesuits and everything is formal; everything has to be taught and learned.
The way art changed.
95. Color, if I may say so, is biological.
How he saw the nature of color.
96. We must become at that moment, become a sensitive recording plate… Give the image of what we really see, forgetting everything that has been seen before our time.
Be one with the moment we want to live.
97. I become one with my image… we merge into iridescent chaos.
Being in harmony with your interior.
98. My age and health will never allow me to realize the dream of art that I have been pursuing all my life.
Life is sometimes very short.
99. I have nothing to hide in art. Initial strength alone can take anyone to the end they have to achieve.
Art is not a mask, but a space to express the truth.
100. For an impressionist to paint from nature is not to paint the subject, but to notice the sensations.
Impressionism is based on sensations, not logic.
101. There are undoubtedly things in nature that have not yet been seen. If an artist discovers them, he opens the way for his successors.
Each artist leaves an important legacy for those who follow.
102. I feel colored by the shades of infinity.
Feeling a special connection with the infinite.
103. With an apple I will amaze Paris.
Demonstrating that you can do great things with simple elements.
104. I know from experience. When the color is richer, the form is fuller.
An expert in how color works.
105. The landscape thinks of me and I am its conscience.
Being one with nature.
106. Everything, you understand. This is how I gather the lost hands of nature… From everywhere.
Each element of nature as a whole.
107. Nature is always the same and yet its appearance is always changing.
It shows us that we can change without losing our essence.
108. Your entire goal should be silence. He must silence all the voices of prejudice within him, he must forget… And then the entire landscape will be engraved on the sensitive plate of his being.
The goal of the painter to do his work.
109. I must seek the end only for the pleasure of being truer and wiser.
In search of what’s next.
110. I have to keep working, so as not to reach the end, which arouses the admiration of fools.
