The Life and Art of Paul Cezanne, a French Post-Impressionist Painter

In 1853, Edgar Degas graduated from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand with a baccalauréat in literature. His father believed that becoming an artist wasn't a good profession and wanted his son to become a lawyer. So Degas studied law briefly and then decided he wished to become an artist. Then, at the age of eighteen, he turned a room in his house into a studio, and was registered at the Louvre as a copyist, a person who copies paintings for studios reasons. In 1855, Degas was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

His mother’s death in 1857, when Monet was 16, caused a lot of grief for Monet and shortly after her death he would leave school, move in with his widowed aunt and pursue art. At the age of 18 he moved to Paris to study art at the Acadamie Suisse. He would make friendships and connections that would influence his life and work for years to come. Monet would enlist in the military at 21 and be stationed in the Northern African French colony of Algeria. He would be released after two years due to health reasons and return to art school to fulfill a promise to his aunt.

In his early life he had not accept the traditional approach to landscape painting but copying old masters that he had been learning from his friends. Claude’s first drawing lesson that he undertook was from a man named Jacques-Francois Ochard, a former student of Jacquis-Louis David. In 1856, Monet had met his fellow artist Eugene Boudin who had became his mentor. He was taught how to use oil paint and was taught the techniques for paint “en plein air”. When Claude Monet was 16 years old and left his school, his mother had died on January 28th 1857.

Early off in his life he experienced tragedy in the form of the death of his sister caused by diphtheria in 1895, when she was only seven. After his sister’s death, Picasso and his family moved to Barcelona, Spain. His father worked at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts. With his father’s connections at Barcelona’s School of Fine Art, Picasso at the young age of 13 took the entrance exam and was accepted into the school’s advanced class within a week; a process that would typically take month to complete. At age sixteen, his father decided to send him off to Royal Academy in Madrid.

[IMAGE]The Attic Studio- 1903 His life changed in 1890, however, while recovering slowly from an attack of appendicitis, he became very interested in painting. In 1892, when he was aged 23 he had become so interested that he was ready to give up being a lawyer and study art and painting full time. He made that decision and having given up his law career, he went to Paris to study art properly. His first teachers were trained and very good so he had a solid grounding. Matisse's own early style was an ordinary form of naturalism although it was also realistic, meaning that it was about everyday life.

Picasso’s early drawings such as, Study of A Torso, After A Plaster Cast (1894-1895 Musee Picasso, Paris, France) demonstrates the high level of technical proficiency he had accomplished by the age of 14 years old. (Encarta 2000) Picasso’s artwork is classified as modern art witch started in the early 1880’s to the mid 1970’s. In 1885 his family moved to Barcelona, Spain after his father obtained a teaching post at that city’s academy of fine Arts. Picasso was admitted to advanced classes in the academy after he completed in a single day the entrance examination that applicants were traditionally given a month to complete. In 1897 Picasso left Barcelona to further his study at the San Fernando academy in Madrid witch was located in the Spanish capital.

Vincent Van Gogh’s first art professor would be Constanijin Huysmans. She was a professional artist who would end up teaching Vincent Van Gogh basic drawing and composition. During 1869-1873, Vincent Van Gogh worked for an established art dealer named Goupil & Cie, in the town of Hague. Vincent than later worked in London and Paris all the way up to the year of 1876. He was fired during that year because he was showing lack of commitment to his job and the customers.

Emile and Paul would write letters and rhymed verse to each other for the next decade or so in which they expressed their most intimate feelings and emotions together with information about their everyday life. Paul's father disapproved of Zola and his family especially after Emile's father had died. In February 1858 Zola moved to Paris together with his mother. Which made Paul want to go to Paris to join up with Emile. When in 1861 he finally obtained his father's permission to study art in Paris, Cezanne's first attempt to settle down there failed.

Henri Matisse Henri Matisse was born December 31st, 1869 to two storeowners, Emile and Heloise Matisse. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, so later on in life he could takeover the family business. They sent him to Henri Martin Grammar School where he studied to be a lawyer. There was a hint of artist in Henri because while working as a lawyer’s assistant he took up a drawing course (Essers 7). It was for curtain design but it seemed to be destiny for a lawyer’s assistant to take up such a distant hobby as drawing.

He used bold brush techniques while painting his subjects. His painting Le dejeuner sur l’herbe in 1863 drew a lot of attention. Manet did not gain recognition until late in life, when his portraits became much sought after. http://www.renoirinc.com/biography/artists/manet.htm Manet preferred to paint the people and places he knew best. His first and second wife frequently served as models.