The Art Institute of Chicago presents a giant of art history

For many, Paul Cézanne's (1839-1906) complex approach to art making made him stand out among the Impressionists and modern art. Some of his admirers, including Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, called him »the greatest of us all.« To this day, artists revere Cézanne's commitment to upholding personal truth in the act of creating art. The Art Institute of Chicago will dedicate its first major retrospective in the United States in more than 25 years to this unique artist with Cezanne from May 15 through September 5, 2022.

The project was planned in collaboration with Tate Modern. It sheds new light on how the Frenchman created his works and shows why his art is still so vibrant today. To do so, the exhibition explores his work across media and genres with 90 oil paintings, 40 watercolors and drawings, and two complete sketchbooks. This outstanding selection encompasses the full range of Cézanne's signature themes and series. In addition, it includes both well-known works and rarely seen compositions from public and private collections in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

The selection of works will be combined with a state-of-the-art technical analysis of the artist's palette, compositional structure, and painting technique. This will deepen visitors' understanding of how Cézanne conceived and developed his notoriously deliberate and non-linear process. In addition, the exhibition illuminates the groundbreaking path Cézanne set for subsequent generations of artists. Through the complementary perspectives of art historians, practicing artists, and conservators, Cézanne is reinterpreted for our time in this unique exhibition.