Self-Portrait 

Paul Cézanne created this self-portrait in France using oil paint. The painting is a study in the gaze of the artist, but more generally it invites us to consider the image of the artist in French society at the turn of the 20th century. Cézanne lived and worked through a time of immense social and political change, in which artists were searching for new roles and new forms of expression. The institutional structure of the French academy, the arbiter of taste, was slowly but surely eroding under pressure from artists seeking greater freedom. The dark palette and heavy brushstrokes of the work suggests the influence of Realism, but it also seems to push against it. Is this how Cézanne really saw himself, or how he wished to be seen? Understanding the social conditions and institutional history of art during the Third Republic might help us to answer those questions. We might look to letters, diaries, reviews and other publications to develop a richer view of the artist in his world.