Portrait of Victor Chocquet 1877

This is Paul Cézanne’s oil painting "Portrait of Victor Chocquet," its dimensions measure 45.7 by 36.8 centimeters. Notice how Cézanne employs fragmented brushstrokes and earthy tones to construct the form. The subject's face is rendered not as a smooth, continuous surface but as a mosaic of color patches. This technique departs from traditional portraiture, which aims for a likeness. Cézanne's approach is akin to structuralist thought, dissecting the subject into its basic components and reconstructing it on the canvas. The painting's composition reflects a larger interest in destabilizing fixed meanings and exploring subjective perception. The materiality of the paint itself becomes a focal point, challenging the notion of art as mere representation. The painting exists as a dynamic field of perception, rather than a static, representational image.