Life with Apples," ca. 1893-94. The original work is an oil on canvas, hung in the J. Paul Getty Museum in California. Cezanne painted many still lifes, and many with apples, but this is one of his most interesting and detailed looks at common, everyday objects.

Paul Cezanne was born in 1839 in Aix-en-Provence, a small town about fifteen miles north of Marseilles. His family was prosperous, and the boy was well educated. He first studied law, but also began to take lessons at the Drawing Academy of Aix, and found he enjoyed art much more than the law. By 1861, his father allowed him to go to Paris to continue his art studies, and his career as an artist was born. Even his art teacher did not encourage his interest in supporting himself as an artist. He returned for a time to his hometown to work in his father's...
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