While abroad in Paris, I was obsessed with art. I joked with my parents that I was head over heels for my new French boyfriend, Paul. Paul Cézanne, that is. Paul was everything I was looking for in a man. He waited for me on the gray Paris streets and shared all of my passions — the outdoors, lifelike color, art and France. I have missed him so much since my return to Philadelphia that my thoughts have begun to sound like the name of a whiny self-help book: “From the Seine to the Schuylkill: My Story of Survival.” You can imagine my excitement when I heard about the “Cézanne and Beyond” exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
I arrived at the press opening early, so I could see the exhibit on my own before the tours began. It felt like a scene out of Alice and Wonderland; each gallery opened out into an even larger one. I was overwhelmed. The walls were not only filled with the works of my beloved Paul, but with those of 18 other artists whose pieces and styles were inspired by Cézanne's art. Picasso once said, “He is my one and only master.” It is clear from the walls of the PMA that many other artists would say the same.
I was shocked to see photography, sculptures and modern works like those of Ellsworth Kelly sharing walls with Cézanne’s landscapes of Provence and Mont Sainte-Victoire. The gallery spaces were organized by subject to highlight Cézanne’s influence on the other artists. Such featured topics included half-length male portraits, still-lifes of fruit on tables, female portraits, skulls and landscapes. The emphasis on Cézanne’s role in the careers of the other artists provided energy to the space and solidified Cézanne’s influence over all forms of art.
“The Large Bathers” — painted in 1906, the year he died — is absolutely spectacular and the largest Cézanne piece I have ever seen. Other must-sees include the wall of Mont Sainte-Victoires in the landscape room — they are possibly his most famous. The art is so full of color and light that it is hard to believe Cézanne was depressed and unhappy (a fact barely touched upon in the exhibit). His work looks just as magnifique in the PMA as it did in Paris. So while the Schuylkill may never be the Seine, Cézanne and Beyond brings "joie de vivre" from the City of Lights to the City of Brotherly Love.
Cézanne and Beyond Philadelphia Museum of Art Feb. 26 through May 17
