Friends and Alumni Talk and Tickets for Cézanne Portraits exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

The Friends and Courtauld Alumni are offered a one hour talk on this major international exhibition: Cézanne Portraits, which is at the National Portrait Gallery from 26 October to 11 February and brings together for the first time over fifty of his portraits from collections across the world, including works which have never been on public display in the UK. The talk is followed by timed entry into the exhibition, included in the ticket price.

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) is one of the most influential artists of the nineteenth century and his unique method of building form with colour and analytical approach to nature influenced the art of Cubists, Fauvists, and successive generations of avant-garde artists. Chaïm Soutine, whose exhibition Soutine’s Portraits is currently at the Courtauld,  was certainly affected by Cézanne whose Self-Portrait with a Palette (1885-87) was of particular influence. The Courtauld’s Man with Pipe (1891-6) (see image) is also included in the exhibition.

Over a working life of some forty-five years, Cézanne made almost 1,000 paintings of which around 160 are portraits. The exhibition will also consider the extent to which particular sitters shaped the development of his practice. Paintings on display will range from multiple portraits of himself and his wife, Hortense Fiquet, his remarkable portrayals of his Uncle Dominique, through to his final portraits of the gardener Vallier.