Paul Cézanne and You

Paul Cézanne and You

Cézanne’s father wanted him to study law, and he attended the University of Aix for awhile. He soon realized that law was not for him, so he followed his dream and went to Paris to study art. Do you remember that Cézanne liked studying Latin in school? In this watercolor, he painted an episode from the Aeneid, by the Roman poet, Virgil. The poem tells the story of Aeneas, a great hero from a city called Troy. At one point, Aeneas is shipwrecked off the coast of Carthage, where he meets the queen, Dido.

 Can you think of a story you have read in school—maybe even a Greek or Roman myth—that you would like to illustrate?

Paul Cézanne, French, 1839–1906. Aeneas Meeting Dido at Carthage, ca. 1875. Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on buff laid paper, 12 x 18.4 cm. The Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation, on long-term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum (L.1988.62.51)