World – “With an apple I will amaze Paris”, said Paul Cézanne as he left the sun of Aix-en-Provence for the capital. After him, nothing would have been the same: his still lifes, the bathers, the landscapes would inspire generations of artists, pushing them to break the rules to go further. Eighty paintings, watercolors and drawings are about to arrive at the Tate Modern to tell the proud painter of the Midi in an exhibition that has been awaited for 25 years or more. Created in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago, the project is the occasion for a close encounter with Cézanne, face to face with his ideas, his history and humanity in a path full of masterpieces.

Paul Cézanne, Bathers, around 1894-1905. Presented by the National Gallery, purchased with a special grant and the aid of the Max Rayne Foundation, 1964

Among the pieces selected by the curators we will find surprising early paintings such as Scipiorecently at the center of a debate related to the change of the original title (The negro Scipio), considered racist by the organizers of the exhibition, and then iconic works rarely seen in Europe such as the Basket of apples or Still life with coffee pot, melon and sugar bowlbut also one of the last paintings, The seated mancompleted a few months after the artist’s death.

Paul Cézanne, Basket of Apples, 1893. Art Institute of Chicago

The famous series of Mont Sainte-Victoire will invite the viewer to appreciate the development of Cézanne’s style through time, while numerous examples of Bathers they will illustrate his love for a subject he returned to throughout his life. Finally, the paintings dedicated to loved ones, from Madame Cézanne in the red armchair to the Portrait of the artist’s son (Musée de l’Orangerie Paris), windows open onto the author’s private life.

Paul Cézanne, Portrait of the Artist’s Son, 1881-2. Paris, Musée de l’Oriangerie, Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume Collection

At the center of the exhibition, the story of an ambitious and highly original painter, but for a long time rejected by the Parisian artistic establishment. We will imagine him as a child in Provence next to little Émile Zola, or as he forms a special friendship with Camille Pissarro and joins the Impressionists, before returning to his own path. Immediately appreciated by Monet – “the greatest of all of us”, said the master of the Water lilies – Cézanne was loved by many by the great masters of the modern, who were the first collectors of his paintings: from Paul Gauguin to Henri Matisse, from Pablo Picasso to Henry Moore.

After the inauguration on October 5th, The EY Exhibition: Cézanne will be open to the public at the Tate Modern until March 12, 2023.

Paul Cezanne, The François Zola Dam (Mountains in Provence), 1877-8. Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum of Wales