Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) lived in a revolutionary period of European painting. During the 1870's the Impressionist movement in art developed a new way of depicting the world. Cezanne wanted to investigate the form, colour and structure of objects, and how they could relate to each other in a painting. By his final years he was recognised as one of the most important painters of all time, he had a direct influence on the history of art in the 20th century.

As a child, Cézanne was strong, lively and wild. He got on well with his sister and mother, but his father was a businessman who treated him strictly and disapproved of his early interest in art. He demanded Paul study law for two frustrating years, then he was allowed to go to an informal art school in Paris, the Atelier Suisse.

Cézanne's early paintings show a...