\ATXul0 The son of a banker, CΘzanne was born in Aix-en-Provence in 1839. After attending hig
h school with \b \ATXul1024 \cf4 \ATXht477 Emile Zola\b0 \ATXul0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , he began to study law but gradually discovered a vocation for painting that took him to Paris. Connected for a while with the impressionists, he then struck off in his own di
rection, in an effort to link forms and colors by a sustained rhythm, often based on simple geometrical shapes. Touchy, suspicious, and capricious, CΘzanne broke off relations with his friends, including Zola after the publication of \i L'Oeuvre\i0 , a b
ook in which he suspected the writer of using him as a model for the main character. Though his work was at first known only to a few art lovers, his influence grew and his pictures began to sell. From his home in Aix-en-Provence where he retired and liv
ed until his death in 1906, he produced a multitude of views of the \b \ATXul1024 \cf4 \ATXht87 Sainte-Victoire Mountain\b0 \ATXul0 \cf0 \ATXht0 - among other subjects - in a desperate effort to plumb the mystery of artistic creation.\par
