Walter E. Thompson

SHADES OF ORANGE WITH MANY GREENS: VISIONS OF PAUL CÉZANNE

by WALTER E. THOMPSON, painter-writer

I'm a painter who also loves to write. Painting and writing together? A weird combination, I agree. But given the subject I have chosen to write about, being a painter is a huge advantage.

I have loved, admired, pursued and steeped myself in the art of Paul Cézanne all of my adult life. Not to copy it or imitate it, but certainly to be inspired by it. As he went his way, I have tried to go mine. [Please go to my painting site if curious: walterthompsonart.com]

No, my book about Cézanne attempts to use my painter's eyes and mind to bring this amazing artist alive in ways rarely possible in conventional biographies or art histories. The questions asked are drawn from a painter's concerns; the issues taken up come from similar struggles to pull out of oneself a coherent art form. To try to see Cézanne from inside the painting process, necessarily leads to different views of him than have usually been observed. The device most useful in such an approach is drawn from the imaginative power of fiction. After all, the most fundamental question for which we would all like an answer--What was he really like?-- can never be more than a guess. Enjoy.