Self Portrait By Paul Cézanne

Painted around 1880, this self-portrait belongs to Cézanne's mature period when he had largely withdrawn from Paris to his native Aix-en-Provence following the dissolution of his friendship with Zola. By this date Cézanne had abandoned Impressionist spontaneity in favour of a more deliberate, architectural approach to form. Self-portraiture was a recurring discipline throughout his career — he produced over two dozen — and each served as an experimental arena for testing his evolving theories of construction. The Pushkin example shows the artist at roughly forty years old, projecting the intense, slightly wary expression that characterises his self-scrutiny.

Cézanne constructs the face with characteristic modulated patches of ochre, grey-green, and rose-pink rather than blended tones. The contours shift and restate themselves, reflecting his technique of approaching form from multiple viewpoints simultaneously. Brushstrokes are short and directional, building volume through colour temperature contrast rather than chiaroscuro.