Madame Cezanne

Paul Cézanne’s (1839–1906) portraits of Hortense Fiquet (1850–1922), his wife and the subject of some of his most iconic portraits, rank among the most powerful of their kind in French modernism. Yet, posterity has not been kind to Madame Cézanne. She was called a distraction, blamed for her husband’s “lackluster” landscapes, and disdained for her impenetrable expression in the paintings. The reality is more complex, for while Fiquet may not have been the passion of Cézanne’s lifetime, she was a willing accomplice, as model, mother of his only son, and unwavering partner against all odds.