Product Review

Paul Cézanne is widely acknowledged to be the father of Modern Art. Far from Paris, in the South of France, his obstinacy as man and artist made him a pioneer of a new way of seeing. Returning always to the same subjects - the Mont Sainte-Victoire, bathing figures, or still lifes - he abandoned central perspective, distorted body-shapes and broke all the traditional rules of landscape painting.

This fascinating film examines many of Cezanne's works in detail and draws on the observations of a wide range of historians and commentators, including artists Howard Hodgkin, R. B. Kitaj and Bridget Riley, critic John Golding and the artist s grand-daughter, Aline Cezanne. Location filming in and around Cezanne's home town of Aix-en-Provence, and archive photographs are also used to illustrate this study of Cezanne's life and work.

Written and presented by MATTHEW COLLINGS