Cezanne Portraits exhibition in Paris, London and Washington

A major "once in a lifetime" exhibition of Cezanne's Portraits will tour major galleries in Paris, London and Washington in 2017 and 2018.

• The exhibition opens at the Musée d'Orsay from 13 June 2017 - 24 September 2017
• Cezanne Portraits then opens in the Wolfson and Lerner Galleries at the National Portrait Gallery in London on 26 October 2017 until 11 February 2018
• and finally travels to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC from 25 March - 1 July 2018.

The exhibition is being curated by

• John Elderfield, Chief Curator Emeritus of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Mary Morton, Curator and Head of Department, French Paintings, National Gallery of Art and 
• Xavier Rey, Director of Collections, Musée d'Orsay.

Self Portrait in a Bowler Hat, 1885-86 by Paul Cézanne.
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.
Photo: Ole Haupt; 

The self portrait of Cezanne (above) has previously been unseen in the UK.

This will be the first time that the National Portrait Gallery has ever staged a major show entirely devoted to Cezanne's Portraits. The exhibition brings together for the first time over 50 of Cézanne's portraits from collections across the world, including works never before on public display in the UK. The paintings are drawn from museums and private collections in Brazil, Denmark, France, Japan, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Up until now, Cezanne's portraiture has received surprisingly little attention, so we are thrilled to be able to bring together so many of his portraits for the first time to reveal arguably the most personal, and therefore most human, aspect of Cézanne's art.Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London

The exhibition will:

• consider the chronological development of Cézanne's portraiture 
• changes that occurred with respect to his style and method will be examined
• explore the special pictorial and thematic characteristics of Cézanne's portraiture and 
• review his creation of complementary pairs and multiple versions of the same subject. 
• discuss the extent to which particular sitters influenced the characteristics and development of his practise.

Facts about Cezanne and his portraits

• born in 1839; died in 1906
• Generally categorised as a prominent Post-Impressionist painter
• Widely recognised as a very influential artist in the 19th century. He influenced the art of Cubists, Fauvists, and successive generations of avant-garde artists. 
• Both Matisse and Picasso called Cézanne 'the father of us all.'
• He painted:
• almost 200 portraits during his career
• 26 self-portraits
• 29 portraits of his wife Hortense Fiquet

You can also find out more about Cezanne (and his landscapes and still life paintings) on my website About Paul Cezanne.

This overview of Cezanne's life and art provides a compendium of links to more information about:

• Cezanne's paintings, drawings and sketchbooks;

• museums and art galleries, exhibitions and websites where you can see his work;

• the places Cezanne painted in Provence

• books and articles about his artwork and his life and other resources for improving your knowledge of Cezanne, his unique approach to painting and his views on art (and society).