Editing Paul Cézanne (section)

===Last years===
In 1901, Cézanne acquired a piece of land north of the city of Aix-en-Provence along the Chemin des Lauves, an isolated road on some high ground, where he had his studio built on the Chemin des Lauves in 1902 according to his needs ([[Atelier de Cézanne]], now open to the public). He moved there in 1903. For large-format paintings such as ''[[The Bathers (Cézanne)|The Bathers]]'', which he created in the Les Lauves studio, he had a long, narrow gap in the wall built through which natural light could flow. That year Zola died, leaving Cézanne in mourning despite the estrangement. His health deteriorated with age. In addition to his diabetes, he suffered from depression, which manifested itself in growing distrust of his fellow human beings to the point of delusions of persecution.

[[File:Cézanne, Paul - Still Life with a Curtain.jpg|thumb|''Still Life with a Curtain'' (1895) illustrates Cézanne's increasing trend towards terse compression of forms and dynamic tension between geometric figures.]]
Despite the artist's increasing recognition, hateful press releases appeared and he received numerous threatening letters.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Becks-Malorny |title=Cézanne |page=81}}</ref> Cézanne's paintings were not well received among the petty [[bourgeoisie]] of Aix. In 1903 [[Victor Henri Rochefort, Marquis de Rochefort-Luçay|Henri Rochefort]] visited the auction of paintings that had been in Zola's possession and published on 9 March 1903 in ''[[L'Intransigeant]]'' a highly critical article entitled "Love for the Ugly".<ref name="Rochefort">[http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k782985b/f1.item Rochefort, Henri, ''L'Amour du laid'', L'Intransigeant] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119060910/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k782985b/f1.item |date=19 January 2018 }}, Numéro 8272, 9 March 1903, Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France (French)</ref> Rochefort describes how spectators had supposedly experienced laughing fits, when seeing the paintings of "an ultra-impressionist named Cézanne".<ref name="Rochefort" /> The public in Aix was outraged, and for many days, copies of ''L'Intransigeant'' appeared on Cézanne's door-mat with messages asking him to leave the town "he was dishonouring".<ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=lxQQZwOcrZUC |page=250 }} |title=The Unknown Matisse: A Life of Henri Matisse |access-date=19 January 2011}}</ref> "I don't understand the world and the world doesn't understand me, so I withdrew from the world," said old Cézanne to his coachman.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leonhard |first1=Kurt |title=Cézanne |page=77}}</ref> When Cézanne deposited his will with a notary in September 1902, he excluded his wife Hortense from the inheritance and declared his son Paul to be the sole heir. Hortense is said to have burned the mementos of his mother.<ref name="Dita Amory">[https://books.google.com/books?id=C8USBQAAQBAJ&dq=c%C3%A9zanne%2C+burned+the+mementos+of+his+mother&pg=PA19 Dita Amory, et al, ''Madame Cézanne''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228140809/https://books.google.com/books?id=C8USBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA19&dq=c%C3%A9zanne,+burned+the+mementos+of+his+mother&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjluuTIyd_YAhWMXRQKHfK4D_oQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=c%C3%A9zanne%2C%20burned%20the%20mementos%20of%20his%20mother&f=false |date=28 December 2019 }}, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014, p. 19, {{ISBN|0300208103}}</ref>

[[File:Trois crânes sur un tapis d'Orient, par Paul Cézanne, 1904.jpg|thumb|left|''Three Skulls on an Oriental Carpet'']]
In 1903 he exhibited for the first time at the newly established [[Salon d'Automne]] (Paris Autumn Salon). The painter and art theorist [[Émile Bernard]] first visited him for a month in February 1904 and published an article about the painter in ''L'Occident'' magazine in July. Cézanne was then working on a [[vanitas]] still life with three skulls on an oriental carpet. Bernard reported that this painting changed colour and form every day during his stay, although it appeared complete from day one. He later regarded this work as Cézanne's legacy and summed it up: "Truly, his way of working was a reflection with a brush in his hand."<ref name="Cézanne. Life and Work">{{cite book |last1=Adriani |title=Cézanne. Life and Work |page=101}}</ref> In the memento mori still lifes that he created several times, Cézanne's increasing depression of old age was evident, which in his letters since 1896 with comments such as "life is beginning to be deadly monotonous for me" were echoed.<ref name="Cézanne. Life and Work"/> An exchange of letters with Bernard continued until Cézanne's death; he first published his memoirs Souvenirs sur Paul Cézanne in the [[Mercure de France]] in 1907, and in 1912 they appeared in book form.

[[File:Le Jardinier Vallier, par Paul Cézanne, coll. privée, 1906.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of the Gardiner Vallier'', 1906, Private collection, Cézanne's final painting before his death]]
From 15 October to 15 November 1904, an entire room of the Salon d'Automne was furnished with the works of Cézanne. In 1905 an exhibition was held in London, in which his work was also shown; the Galerie Vollard exhibited his works in June, and the Salon d'Automne followed in turn from 19 October to 25 November with 10 paintings. The art historian and patron [[Karl Ernst Osthaus]], who had founded the [[Museum Folkwang]] in 1902, visited Cézanne on 13 April 1906 in the hope of being able to purchase a painting by the artist. His wife Gertrud probably took the last photograph of Cézanne.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/01/27/arts/27ceza2_ready.html The last photograph of Cézannes by Gertrud Osthaus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207063318/http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/01/27/arts/27ceza2_ready.html |date=7 February 2018 }}, /www.nytimes.com, accessed on 20. October 2011.</ref> Osthaus described his visit in his work ''A Visit to Cézanne'', published in the same year.

Despite the later successes, Cézanne was only ever able to approach his goals. On 5 September 1906, he wrote to his son Paul: "Finally, I want to tell you that as a painter I am becoming more clairvoyant to nature, but that it is always very difficult for me to realize my feelings. I cannot reach the intensity that unfolds before my senses, I do not possess that wonderful richness of colour that animates nature."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adriani |title=Cézanne. Life and Work |page=53}}</ref>