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Paul Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence, on January 19th, 1839. His father, a hatter who became a banker in 1848, did not marry with Anne-Elisabeth Aubert, mother of his son Paul, until 1844, when Paul was enrolled at the elementary school of Epineaux Street. From 1844 to 1858, Paul Cézanne was registered at Saint-Joseph’s Catholic school, then at the Bourbon school, present-day Mignet school, where he obtained a liberal arts diploma with the grade “average”, on November 12th, 1858. It is in the school’s playground in 1852 that Paul Cézanne met Émile Zola, with whom he frequently went for walks in the Aix countryside. From 1857 to 1862, Paul enrolled in the free municipal school of drawing where he won the second prize in drawing in 1859.
In 1858, Émile Zola left Aix for Paris and Cézanne planned to join him there. In April 1861, he finally convinced his father to let him devote his life to painting and joined Emile in Paris. Disappointed by this first visit, he returned to Aix in September and worked as an employee at his father’s bank.
1839
January 19th: birth of Paul Cézanne, at 28 rue de l’Opéra, in Aix-en-Provence.
February 22nd: baptism in the church of the Madeleine. His father, Louis-Auguste Cézanne, was a felt hat merchant.
1841
July 4th: birth of Marie Cézanne, the artist’s sister, at 55 cours Mirabeau.
1844
January 29th: marriage of Louis-Auguste Cézanne and Anne-Elisabeth Aubert, mother of his children.
1844 – 1850
Paul Cézanne attends the elementary school on Epineaux Street .
1848
June 1st: creation of the Cézanne and Cabassol Bank.
1850 – 1852
Paul Cézanne studies at Saint-Joseph’s boarding school.
1852 – 1858
Paul Cézanne, a student at the Bourbon school, forges a strong friendship with Émile Zola and Baptistin Baille.
1854
June 30th: birth of Rose Cézanne, the artist’s second sister, at 14 rue Matheron.
1857
First enrollment in the free municipal school of drawing, the present-day Granet Museum.
1858
February: Zola leaves Aix for Paris, but returns to spend his summer holidays there.
July: Cézanne fails the baccalaureat.
November 12th: he obtains his diploma with the grade: “average”.
November 1858 to August 1859: he diligently follows the courses of the municipal school of drawing.
1859
Paul Cézanne enrolls at the Aix law school. His father acquires the Jas de Bouffan. Zola again spends his holidays in Aix.
November 1859 to August 1860: Paul Cézanne is still enrolled at the municipal school of drawing. He wins second prize for a painted study of a face. He dreams of becoming painter.
1861
He gives up his law studies. He stays for the first time in Paris, where he joins Zola and meets Pissaro at the Swiss Academy; discouraged, he returns to Aix and starts working at his father’s bank while studying at the Aix municipal school of drawing.
1862
He leaves his father’s bank and goes back to Paris (November).
1863
He exhibits in the Refusés Gallery, he works at the Swiss academy where he often meets with Pissaro, Guillaumin, Guillemet, and Oller, and he copies paintings in the Louvre.
1864
He was refused by the Gallery and was refused once again during the following years. He remains in Estaque, close to Marseilles.
1865
After having spent the year in Paris, where he was refused by the Gallery, he returns to Aix for the summer where he meets with Valabrègue, Marion, and the German musician Morstatt.
1866
In Aix, in autumn, Cézanne paints an entire series of still lifes and portraits with a knife.
1869
In Paris, he meets Hortense Fiquet, who he will later wed.
1870
During the Franco-Prussian War, he takes refuge in Estaque.
1872
Birth of Paul, son of the artist and Hortense.
1874-77
He takes part in the first and the third impressionist exhibits.
1882
He is accepted at the Gallery, the only time in his career.
1883
He meets Monet and Renoir in the south of France.
1886
Following the publication of Zola’s L’Oeuvre, Cézanne parts ways with his former comrade from the Bourbon school. He marries Hortense (April). The artist’s father dies(October).
1887
Cézanne rents a room at the Château Noir in the pistachio tree’s patio.
1895
From Aix, Cézanne goes to Mont Sainte Victoire and the Bibémus quarries where he rents a cottage. The merchant Vollard organizes in his gallery the first individual exhibit devoted to Cézanne (November).
1897
Cézanne works in Tholonet and at the Bibémus quarry. The artist’s mother dies (October 25th).
1899
After the sale of Jas de Bouffan, Cézanne fails to purchase Château Noir. He exhibits paintings at the Independents Gallery. He moves into 23 Boulegon Street.
1901
The painter buys property along the Lauves road through Aix, in order to establish his studio there.
1902
Ambroise Vollard visits Cézanne in Aix. The painter learns of Zola’s death with great sadness.
1904
Émile Bernard and Charles Camoin visit Cézanne in Aix.
1905
Cézanne exhibits his work at the Autumn Gallery.
1906
Cézanne dies in Aix (October 23rd) in his apartment on Boulegon Street.
1907
The Autumn Gallery devotes a posthumous retrospective to Cézanne where 56 works of the artist are presented.
