Portrait of Cézanne

"Portrait of Cézanne" is a late-career lithograph created by the French master Paul Cézanne in 1898. Produced during the period designated c. 1898–1900, this print serves as a compelling study of the artist’s own image during his mature phase, and offers crucial insight into his self-perception as his revolutionary work reached its full potential.

Although Cézanne is primarily recognized for his pioneering oil paintings that bridged Impressionism and Cubism, he explored the medium of graphic arts at several points in his career. This piece, created using the lithography technique, demonstrates the artist's capability to translate his signature concern with geometric structure and volumetric mass into the precise realm of black-and-white printmaking. The use of lithography allowed Cézanne to achieve subtle tonal variations and textural depth, rendering the subject's face and heavy coat with a sense of solidity and weight.

The artist depicts himself in a direct, unadorned manner, foregrounding the intensity of his concentrated gaze. Unlike the expressive self-portraits of his Romantic predecessors, this work emphasizes objective form and structural rigor over emotional narrative. Cézanne’s deliberate composition avoids superficial detail, focusing instead on defining the planes of the face and skull through stark contrasts and carefully modulated hatching.

This influential print, a defining example of the French graphic tradition, is essential for understanding the psychological and artistic development of the Post-Impressionist master. The lasting interest in the artist’s graphic production means that high-quality prints of this image are widely distributed; furthermore, many of Cézanne’s works have entered the public domain, extending their reach globally. The original impression of this significant lithograph is housed in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.