Do You Favor Pissarro or Cezanne??

 Camille Pissarro, "Le Jardin de Maubuisson, Pontoise", spring 1877

 Paul Cezanne, "Le Jardin de Maubuisson, Pontoise", 1877

On a buying trip in Paris in 2006,
I was fortunate to view a special exhibition at the Museum D'Orsay.

80 paintings by Pissarro and Cezanne had been borrowed from museums and private collections all over the world and presented "side by side".

A rare chance to see the way the 2 masters saw the world.

For more than a decade in the mid-1800s, the 2 artist often painted side by side.

Cezanne was from Provence and was sent to Paris to study law.

He chose instead, to take painting classes at a Paris walk-in studio school. 

It was there in 1861,at the Suisse Academy in Paris, where he met Pissarro.
Many of the students mocked Cezanne's "provincial gaucheries", but not Pissarro.

Pissarro was born on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas. He was educated in France, returned to St. Thomas, and then 2 years in Venezuela before moving to Europe for a final time.
Like Cezanne, Pissarro's father did not want him to be a painter.

Think what the world would have missed,
 if Cezanne and Pissarro had followed the wishes of their family,
 rather than following their hearts.

Cezanne's drawing of Pissarro on the left, Pissarro's etching of Cezanne on the right.

The two men developed a long lasting understanding of each other...
sometimes paternal... Pissarro 9 years the elder
sometimes brotherly...they often painted each other's portraits
sometimes as colleagues....sharing
Cezanne started painting more landscapes and experimenting with geometry.
Pissarro took up the palette knife.

Cezanne was known to be cranky, guarding his heart.
Pissarro was full of unconditional kindness.

 Camille Pissarro, "Rue de Gisors", 1873

(notice this painting on the wall in Cezanne's still life below)

 Paul Cezanne, "Still Life with a Soup Tureen", 1874

Notice at the top left of Cezanne's still life...
he has included Pissarro's earlier painting in his own work.

Cezanne said of Pissarro,

"As for old Pissarro, he was a father to me. 

He was a man to be consulted and something like the good Lord."

Mary Cassatt said of Pissarro, 

"Pissarro was such a good teacher that he could have taught stones to draw correctly."

 Camille Pissarro, "View of the Mathurin House, Pontoise", 1875

Pissarro was a people person and often included figures in his works.

 Paul Cezanne, "Le Clos des Mathurins, Pontoise", 1875

Often, the paintings of Cezanne did not include figures.

 Camille Pissarro, "La Cote des Jalais, Pontoise", 1867

Paul Cezanne, "La Cote des Jalais, Pontoise", 1879-1881

Who do you favor??