Art and Nature

Although tame by today's standards, when the world first saw French painter Paul Cezanne's work, it was met with outrage and mockery. He exhibited in some of the very first impressionist shows, and helped to revolutionize the use of color in painting. Let's take a look at a quote from the man:

"Art runs parallel to Nature"

-Paul Cezanne (1838-1906)

Notice he says art runs parallel to nature. He is not saying that art should be merely a copy nature, he says it runs parallel to nature, the processes involved in creation and the underlying rhythm can be similar to the underlying rhythm in nature, not just a photographic image of it. To me that's what makes the modern era of art so much more exciting than classicism or even the renaissance, the intensity of raw emotion that is seen on a scale never before imagined. Paul Cezanne was definitely a major contributor in freeing up the artist to be able to express more emotion in one's work.