Discusses the life, art, and legacy of the artist Paul Cézanne. Includes a timeline linking the events in his life with world events.

Explores the life and work of the nineteenth-century French artist who devoted most of his artwork to the subject of ballet.

"A group of young artists in 1874, in opposition to the established authority of the Salon and the Academy, decided to show their work directly to the public in an exhibition which they organized themselves. The artists forming the core of this group- Pissarro, Degas, Sisley, Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, and Morisot- came to be known as "the Impressionists". Seen to be following the independent spirit of Manet, they were immediately identified as the avant-garde...

The Impressionists -- Monet, Manet, Degas, Pissaro, Cassatt, Renoir, Morisot, Cézanne, and others -- are probably the most popular of all artistic schools. Their struggle to impose a new vision is one of the most absorbing in the whole history of art. Art historian Bernard Denvir brings Impressionism into focus with imagination and insight, through the words of the artists themselves and their contemporaries, against the background of their time....

In his landscape and still-life paintings, Cezanne developed a revolutionary new approach to color and perspective. His influence on 20th century artists was so great that he is now referred to as the Father of Modern Painting.

"Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980) stood at the center of the sophisticated Paris art world of the 1920s and 30s. Her love for beautiful women, elegant automobiles, and the modern metropolis provided not only motifs for her pictures, but also influenced her artistic style. Simultaneously with her career as artist, Tamara de Lempicka pioneered a new image of life on the screen, evident in the new, self-confident woman and the changing aspects of femininity...

The spectacular transformation of Paris during the nineteenth century into a city of tree-lined boulevards and public parks both redesigned the capital and inspired the era's great Impressionist artists. The renewed landscape gave crowded, displaced urban dwellers green spaces to enjoy, while suburbanites and country dwellers began cultivating their own flower gardens--trends that spread throughout Europe and even to America. As exotic botanical specimens...

"Often misunderstood, Pierre-Auguste Renoir remains one of history's most-loved painters--undoubtedly because his work exudes such warmth, tenderness, and good cheer. Gathering brilliant reproductions and sketches, as well as photos and a complete chronology illustrating his life and work, this is the essential work of reference on Renoir."--