THE COVER

摘要

DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIPS FILLED THE WORLD OF PAUL Cezanne (1839-1906). One of his boyhood companions in Aix-en-Provence was Emile Zola, who became a literary critic and acclaimed novelist. A break in the Cezanne-Zola friendship occurred after decades of writing letters, visiting Paris, and Cezanne serving as best man at Zola's wedding. Zola adapted some of Cezanne's personal idiosyncrasies for a character in the novel UOeuvre. This portrayal of an oafish, peculiar artist named Claude Lantier (who kills himself) did not sit well with Cezanne. After the rupture of their relationship in 1886, the friends never spoke again. In an editorial in Le Figaro, Zola later decried Cezanne's artistic efforts, calling him "an aborted great talent." Despite such harsh words, Zola owned as many as 12 of Cezanne's paintings.