Cezanne et nous

In the late 1880s, when he was no longer seeking to exhibit his work, artists and collectors discovered Cezanne’s work in Père Tanguy’s shop. There they found a formal radicalism that reinforced their quest for a “pure” art, already well on the path to abstraction.

Subsequently, Cézanne gradually gained recognition, and his work began to be widely embraced. From the first monographic exhibitions organized by the art dealer Ambroise Vollard to major museum and international events, as well as the first major posthumous exhibitions such as the Salon d’Automne in 1907, he emerged as one of the defining figure of modernity.

His work became a point of reference for the avant-garde movements of the 20th century, which questioned the relationship between painting and reality and found in the idea that “art is a harmony parallel to nature” an essential tool for reflection.

Starting with Cezanne, the triumph of modern art and that of formalism—or the reduction of painting to its fundamental compositional elements—has continually been reworked and transcended. Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Joan Mitchell, Bridget Riley, Peter Doig… From lyrical abstraction and geometric abstraction, to “hard-edge” painting, Cezanne remains a constant point of reference: sometimes claimed, sometimes reinterpreted, always debated. In the age of post-modernism, his status as the “father of modern art” continues to be questioned.

Cezanne et nous is the first exhibition to simultaneously tell this dual story: that of his fundamental influence and, in contrast, the story of the artists who claimed him. The exhibition reveals a complex and multifaceted history shaped by appropriation, artistic lineage, and aesthetic tensions. It invites you to view Cezanne through the successive perspectives he has inspired, culminating in our own contemporary gaze.

Exhibition co-produced by the GrandPalaisRmn, the Centre Pompidou, and the Public Establishment of the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée de l’Orangerie - Valéry Giscard d’Estaing

Curators

Claire Bernardi, Director of the Musée de l’Orangerie

Michel Gauthier, Curator of Contemporary Collections, Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou

Xavier Rey, Director of the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou 

Jean-Rémi Touzet, Curator of Paintings, Musée d’Orsay

Scénographie: Pauline Phelouzat, Architect and Exhibition Designer, Centre Pompidou