Pablo Picasso called Cézanne ‘the father of us all’, referring to how Cézanne’s paintings inspired both Picasso’s Cubist paintings made up of different, flat facets, and Matisse’s Fauvist paintings with their emphasis on bright colour, which in turn influenced many other artists to either explore structure (from Cubism) or colour (from Fauvism).

We will explore these aspects of Cézanne’s work and how it influenced Modern Art, as well as try to work out what Cézanne’s work was really all about – was it about finding ‘something solid and lasting like the art of the museums’, as Cézanne said, or was he instead, as Andrew Graham-Dixon calls him, ‘A master of doubt’?

About the Lecturer

Sarah Ciacci has an MA in History of Art (Late 19th century French Painting and 20th Century Art) from University College London.  She has been a Blue Badge Guide for London since 2008, specialising in art, museums and galleries, so relevant tours and visits for talks can be arranged.  Since 2008 she has trained Blue Badge Guides in the National Gallery and is an art lecturer for trainee guides in Tate Britain, Tate Modern and for a period the National Portrait Gallery.  She is a gallery educator and Adjunct Faculty at Richmond University (since 2008) teaching the History of British Art, the History of Museums in London and the History of London, and runs regular courses and independent lectures on a variety of art historical periods.