Paul Cezanne was born in Aix-en-Provence to a well-to-do family, but he early decided he wanted to be an artist. He studied law briefly in 1858, at his father's urging, but dropped out and went to Paris to study art and be around writers, artists, and intellectuals. Returning to Aix in September 1861, he worked for awhile for his father as a bank clerk, but the two of them agreed that was not for him, and he went back to Paris and painting, supported by an allowance from his father for the next 25 years or so.
His career was slow to take off. He was not admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and he had trouble exhibiting his work. He drew a few admirers, though, and exhibited with the Impressionists three times in the mid-1870s. By the time he was 50 he was well-known.
His early works look crude, with people strangely proportioned and broad strokes of paint. Themes include the violent or the erotic, or both. Later, he developed a refined style which drew from the landscape of Provence, including a series of paintings of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire.
To view some samples of Cezanne's work, click below.