Trewin Copplestone

Paul Draper

Peter's Cathedral, Rome; Buckingham Palace, London; the Paris Opera (now Opera Garnier), Paris; King Ludwig's Castle (Neuschwanstein), Bavaria; and Monticello, Virginia.

Behind Façades

Bernard Samuel Myers

Art Treasures in Germany: Monuments, Masterpieces, Commissions and Collections

PAUL CEZANNE (1839-1906) is an important figure in the progress of modern European painting. In his dedicated concern with form and structure, he stands apart from the mainstream of Impressionist painting, extending its range into a new art of visual analysis. Cezanne, sensitive and shy, shunned the Parisian cafe society of his fellow artists, preferring to live and work alone in his native Provence which provided the inspiration for so many of his paintings. Less immediately appealing to a wider audience than, for example, Monet and Degas, Cezanne is nonetheless of immense importance through the influence he exerted on so many of the artists who followed him, such as Picasso and Matisse. Blessed with financial independence through the efforts of his banker father, he fortunately enjoyed a freedom to pursue his art without the demands of making a living felt by so many of his fellow artists.

Paul Cézanne

VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-1890), whose paintings now command millions of dollars at each auction, died impoverished at the early age of 37. He left behind an astonishing body of work which included several hundred paintings created over a short period and a large quantity of drawings and sketches. Born in the Netherlands, the son of a Protestant pastor, Van Gogh was emotionally unstable and suffered frequent bouts of severe mental depression (which resulted in his eventual suicide). Although frequently linked with the Impressionists he has no real artistic connection with them and his work stands as a highly individual expression of his disturbed temperament. His most notable works, which were created in the last three and a half years of his life, are of his friends, acquaintances, and the landscape around Arles in southern France. The miracle of Van Gogh is that he was able to produce such a dominating body of deeply moving images while living a life of ultimate desperation in an increasing state of mental imbalance.

Trewin Copplestone

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