Welcome to Great Art.
For the past few years,
we've been filming in the biggest exhibitions,
art galleries and museums in the world,
exploring some of the greatest artists and art in history.
Not only do we record landmark shows,
but we also secure privileged access behind the scenes.
We then use this as a springboard to take a broader look
at these extraordinary artists.
When we heard that three great galleries,
the Musee d'Orsay in Paris,
the National Portrait Gallery in London
and the National Gallery in Washington DC
were planning the first ever exhibition
entirely focused on portraits by Cezanne,
we thought this was an opportunity too good to miss.
Cezanne, considered among the greatest of all artists,
is best known for his landscapes and still lives,
but just as important to him were his many portraits
and self-portraits.
Through them, one has remarkable access
both to his life story and the development of his art.
Naturally, the show in all three locations was a smash hit,
but if you missed it, you may never see its like again.
Except here, in this latest film from Great Art.
MAN AS CEZANNE: "My age and my health will never allow me
"to realise the artistic dream I have pursued all my life."
"But I shall always be grateful to the audience
"of intelligent art lovers who have sensed
"what I was trying to do to renew my art,
"in spite of my halting attempts."
"In my opinion, one does not replace the past,
"one only adds a new link."
"With painter's temperament and an artistic ideal,
"that is to say a conception of nature,
"there should be sufficient means of expression
"to be intelligible to the general public,
"and to occupy a suitable rank in the history of art."
"Paul Cezanne."
An exhibition of this scale and ambition
takes many years to put together.
So this one goes back to 2009
when the conversations were first had
about why had no-one ever done an exhibition
of Cezanne's portraits,
which seems a remarkable fact, but is true.
And, of course, in this case,
we're partnering with the Musee d'Orsay in Paris
and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.
Cezanne is the great formalist master,
I mean, he really sets up a kind of abstraction
that you're gonna see unfold in the 20th century.
And he's best known as a still-life and landscape painter
where you don't generally get issues
of emotional and psychological expression or affect.
So the drama of this show, I think, is what happens
when you replace these inanimate objects
with, not only human beings, but people who he knew really well.
MAN AS CEZANNE: "Aix, 9th April 1858.
"Dear Emile, a poem.
"Farewell, my dear Emile.
"No, on the flowing stream I no longer slip as gaily
"as in times gone by, when with agile arms like reptiles,
"we swam together across the calm waters.
"Farewell, fine days seasoned with wine.
"Lucky fishing for prodigious fish.
"When in my catch in the cool river,
"my surly line caught nothing dreadful.
"Do you remember the pine that stood on the bank of the Arc,
"lowering its leafy head over the chasm that opened at its feet?
"That pine that protected our bodies with its foliage
"from the heat of the sun.
"Ah! May the Gods preserve it from the fatal blow
"of the woodcutter's axe.
"Aix, 7th December 1858.
"Dear Emile...
"Alas, I took the tortuous path of Law.
"I 'took' is not the word, I was forced to take Law,
"horrible Law with all equivocations.
"It will make my life a misery for three years.
"Have pity on me, an unhappy mortal."
MAN AS ZOLA: "Paris, 3rd March 1861."
"You pose an odd question."
"Of course one can work here, as anywhere, given the willpower."
"Moreover, Paris has something you can't find anywhere else,
"museums in which you can study from the masters
"from 11 till four."
"Here is how you could organise your time..."
"From six to 11, you'll go to the studio
"and paint from the live model."
"You'll have lunch, then, from midday till four,
you'll copy the masterpiece of your choice,
"either in the Louvre or in the Luxembourg."
"That will make nine hours of work. I think that's enough,
"and with such a regime,
"it won't be long before you do something good."
"You see, that leaves us all evening free,
"and we can do whatever we like,
"without impinging at all on our studies."
"Then on Sundays, we'll take off and go to some places around Paris,
"there are some charming spots, and if so moved,
"you can knock off a little canvas of the trees
"under which we'll have lunched."
"As for the question of money, it's true that your allowance
"of 125 francs a month won't allow you any great luxury,
"but you'll have enough to get by."
"Paris, August 1861."
"We've been together six hours today,
"our meeting place is Paul's little room."
"There, he's doing my portrait,
"during which time I read or we chat together."
"Paul paints on relentlessly."
"The slightest obstacle sends him into despair."
"Aix, 23rd October 1866."
"Dear Camille...
"I'm here in the bosom of my family, with the foulest people on Earth,
"those who make up my family, who can be excruciatingly annoying."
"Aix, 2nd November 1866."
MAN AS GUILLEMET: "I have been here in Aix, this Athens of the north,
"with Paul Cezanne.
"A portrait of his father in a big armchair
"comes over really well.
"The painting is light in tone, the look is very fine.
"The father has the air of a pope on his throne,
"if it weren't for the newspaper that he's reading.
"The people of Aix still get on his nerves,
"they ask to come and see his painting
"so that they can rubbish it,
"and he has a good way of dealing with them.
"'Bugger off,' he says."
It's a very early portrait for Cezanne,
and it's done in his style known as the "maniere couillard",
which is roughly translated as the "ballsy manner".
Cezanne is using a palette knife for much of the composition,
but also, wide brushes and really slathering on the paint
in a very kind of physical, gestural way.
And I think he's after an image that is quite powerful.
He wanted to make a statement, certainly.
He's young, he's new to the Parisian art scene
and he's very ambitious.
The sitter is, of course, his father, Louis-Auguste Cezanne.
He had started his business in hat-making in Aix,
and made quite a bit of money, and then, became a banker,
and was one of the richest men in town.
You see him there, sitting in his armchair,
reading his newspaper,
very much an image of what a businessman of the day
would be doing, he's keeping up with the times.
The paper that he regularly read was one of wide circulation,
particularly in the south of France, it was called "Le Siecle",
so it's interesting that he's not reading the paper
that he normally would have read.
And there is this document, a letter,
from one of Cezanne's friends,
reporting that Cezanne changed late in the composition
the masthead on this paper to "L'Evenement",
which was a Parisian paper that Emile Zola
had recently published a defence of the avant-garde.
And I think that in a way, Cezanne is conflating the support
of his friend, Zola, who had defended him
in this newspaper with the support of his father.
So it's really kind of an homage to this moment in his career,
and it is an homage to his father. I think it's quite respectful.
He has a forceful presence in the picture frame,
and he's brought up right against the picture plain,
so he's really almost out in your space.
He's quite an imposing figure.
There's no doubt that,
at the inception of a picture like this,
he intended it for the Salon.
And the same year that he paints this painting,
he does one of his very good friend, Achille Emperaire,
which he actually submits to the Salon, and it is rejected.
So this painting doesn't make it into the Salon until 1882,
and it is, in fact, the first painting by Cezanne
accepted at a salon.
MAN AS CEZANNE: "Paris, 26th November 1874."
"My Dear Mother...
"Pissarro has not been in Paris
"for about a month and a half, he is in Brittany,
"but I know he has a good opinion of me,
"and I have a good opinion of myself.
"I am beginning to consider myself stronger than all those around me.
"I have to work all the time, but not to achieve the finish
"that earns the admiration of imbeciles.
"I must strive for completion purely for the satisfaction
"of becoming truer and wiser.
"It is a very bad moment for sales,
"all the bourgeois baulk at parting with their cash,
"but that will end."
"Aix, April 1876.
"My Dear Pissarro...
"Two days ago,
"I received a large number of catalogues and newspapers
"about your exhibition at dealer Durand-Ruel's.
"I also learned that Monet's La Japonaise
"had been sold for 2,000 francs.
"According to the papers, it seems that Manet's rejection
"by the Salon has caused quite a stir,
"and that he's doing his own exhibition at home.
"Here, the frost was so severe
"that the fruit and vine harvests were ruined.
"But that's the advantage of art, painting endures.
"Oh... I almost forgot to tell you
"that I was sent another rejection letter.
"It's neither new nor surprising."
"Aix, April 1876. My dear Pissarro...
"If having the Impressionists as background can help me,
"I'll show the best I have with them,
"and something neutral with the others."
The palette is lightening after 1870,
and what gradually emerges by the end of the '70s,
in terms of the application,
is this so-called constructive brushstroke
where he started to lay everything out
with smallish individual brushstrokes
running diagonally, usually, across figure and ground
so that one recognises again the materiality of the marking
as well as the subject.
MAN AS CEZANNE: "Paris, 24th August 1877.
"Dear Emile...
"It seems that a deep depression reigns in the Impressionist camp.
"They are not exactly making their fortune.
"We are living in very troubled times."
"23rd March 1878.
"Dear Emile...
"I seem to be on the verge of having to fend for myself,
"if indeed I'm up to it.
"Relations between my father and myself are becoming very tense,
"and I risk losing my entire allowance.
"A letter from Monsieur Chocquet,
"in which he mentioned Madame Cezanne and little Paul,
"provided conclusive proof of my situation to my father,
"who, by the way, was already alert, full of suspicions,
"and who had nothing better to do than to unseal
"and be the first to read the letter that was sent to ME,
"even though it was addressed to Monsieur Paul Cezanne, painter."
"Aix, 4th April 1878."
"My Dear Emile...
"Please send 60 francs to Hortense in Marseilles.
"I have only been able to secure 100 francs from my father
"and I was even afraid
"that he might not give me anything at all.
"He's heard from various people that I have a child,
"and he's trying by every means possible to catch me out.
"He wants to rid me of it.
"It would take too long to explain the good man to you
"but appearances are deceptive, believe you me.
"I slipped off last week to see the little one in Marseilles,
"but missed the train back and had to walk the 30km.
"I was an hour late for dinner."
I think seeing Cezanne's portraits in the context of a portrait gallery
is especially interesting,
and, obviously, the context here in London
is quite different from the context in either Paris or in Washington.
What's unique about the exhibition here
is that we are focusing on portraiture first and foremost,
so portraiture as a medium.
And, of course, the National Portrait Gallery
was the first portrait gallery in the world
when it was founded in 1856.
And I think the origins are quite interesting,
it was essentially founded to collect portraits
of eminent British men and women that had made British history,
and to reflect on the idea of achievement, nationhood,
biography and character.
So although we now live in an era
saturated by portraits or self-portraits,
whether it's selfies or Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat,
perhaps we're more resonant now than ever before
because people have this great interest in identity,
self-portraiture and representation.
I think it has been lined... There's liner's paper there,
and this, this is the original edge.
Yeah, you see there, it's the same thing,
but you can see clearly that that's just the edge
of the painting. Yeah.
'I think there's many factors that make an exhibition successful,
'and I wouldn't say that that's just to do with attendance,
'i.e. the idea that an exhibition is a blockbuster and successful
'if lots of people come and see it.'
'The issues around a great exhibition,
'as a former curator myself,
'is the integrity with which it's realised.'
'And that really begins with someone's vision
'of what the exhibition should do and say and achieve.'
And then, the question is how you execute that
and explain and convey that to an audience.
It's not that clear... Top, bottom and left edge.
Maybe they've just got their left and right muddled?
But it's definitely visible at the top.
Maybe... I think that's the abrasion there.
That abrasion has always been there, so it's not like it's...
What height are we going to do? Cos this is hanging higher.
It can't be centred on that, it's going to be too big.
Yeah, let's look at it again with that one.
It's going to look right into his bloodshot eyes.
Yes, I think that's OK. Yeah, that's good.
MAN AS MONET: "November, 1894."
"Paul is so peculiar, so fearful of seeing new faces,
"that I am afraid he may let us down and not come to dinner,
"despite his wish to meet you.
"What a pity that this man
"has not had more support in his life.
"He is a true artist who suffers too much self-doubt.
"He needs to be cheered up."
MAN AS GEFFROY: "This is one of his beautiful works,
"even though it is unfinished.
"The library, the papers on the table,
"the little Rodin plaster sculpture,
"the artificial rose that he brought at the start of the sessions,
"everything is of the first rank."
"And, of course, there is also a character in this scene,
"which is painted with meticulous care,
"with a richness and an incomparable harmony of tones.
"He only sketched in the face, however, always saying,
"'Hmm, perhaps I'll leave that to the end.'
"Alas, the end never came.
"One fine day, Cezanne sent for his easel, brushes and paints,
"writing to me that the project was clearly beyond him,
"he had been wrong to undertake it, and apologising for abandoning it.
"I insisted that he come back, telling him what I thought,
"that he had started a very fine work,
"and that he should finish it.
"He came back, and for a week, he seemed to work,
"adding fine films of colour, as only he knew how,
"always retaining the freshness and sparkle of the painting.
"But his heart was no longer in it.
"He left for Aix, leaving behind the portrait
"as he had left so many other paintings,
"things of wonderful vision and realisation."
MAN AS CEZANNE: "Aix, 8th July 1902.
"Dear Gasquet...
"I am pursuing success through work.
"I despise all living painters, except Monet and Renoir,
"and I want to succeed through work."
"Aix, 9th January 1903.
"Dear Monsieur Vollard...
"I work tenaciously, I glimpse the Promised Land.
"Will I be like the great leader of the Hebrews?
"Will I be able to enter?
"I've made some progress. Why so late and laboriously?
"Is art really a priesthood that requires the pure in heart,
"who completely surrender themselves to it?"
"Aix, 12th May 1904.
"Dear Bernard, nature appears to me very complex,
"and the improvements to be made are never-ending.
"One must see one's model clearly and feel it exactly right,
"and then express oneself with distinction and force.
"Taste is the best judge. It is rare."
"Art speaks only to an excessively small group of people.
"The artist should scorn all opinion not based
"on the intelligent observation of character."
He was an extraordinary portrait painter,
and probably the most important since Rembrandt
in that he is really painting humanity.
They are, some of them, difficult paintings,
if one is thinking about portraits as images of faces,
but the expression is in the whole canvas.
As Matisse said, "Expression for me isn't in gesture or in face
but in the whole composition,"
and this is a major gift that Cezanne gave to modern painting.
MAN AS CEZANNE: "Aix, 3rd August 1906."
"My dear Paul, I get up early
"and it's only really between five and eight
"that I can lead my own life."
"By the time the heat becomes stupefying
"and saps the brain so much, I can't even think of painting."
"I caught bronchitis,
"I've abandoned homeopathy for old-fashioned mixed syrups."
"It's a shame that I can't give many demonstrations
"of my ideas and sensations."
"Long live the Goncourts, Pissarro, and all those
"who have a propensity for colour, which represents light and air.
"I know that with the terrible heat, you and Maman will be tired,
"so it's a good thing that you were both able
"to get back to Paris in time to find yourselves
"in a less burning atmosphere.
"I must remind you not to forget the slippers,
"the ones I have are just about giving up on me."
WEARILY: "Aix, 26th August 1906."
"My Dear Paul, when I forget to write to you,
"it's because I lose track of time a little.
"It's been terribly hot, and in addition,
"my nervous system must be much weakened.
"Painting is the best thing for me.
"I go to the river by carriage every day.
"It's nice enough there, but my weakness is getting me down.
"I'm going to go up to the studio.
"I got up late, after five.
"I'm still working happily, and yet, sometimes,
"the light is so bad that nature seems ugly to me.
"So one has to choose.
"My pen is hardly moving.
"I embrace you both with all my heart,
"and remember me to all the friends who still think of me
"across time and space.
"A big hug for you and Maman."
"Aix... 15th October 1906.
"My dear Paul...
"Everything goes by with frightening speed.
"I'm not doing too badly, I look after myself, I eat well.
"My dear Paul, to give you the satisfactory news you want,
"I would have to be 20 years younger.
"I repeat, I eat well,
"and a little boost to morale would do me a power of good,
"but only work can give me that.
"All my compatriots are idiots... beside me.
"I embrace you and Maman.
"Your father, Paul Cezanne."
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