Cézanne's Doubt: Friendship and Hesitation in a MASP Painting

In 2021, Felipe Martinez wrote an essay for ArtSchool 2020, collaborating with Central Saint Martins and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo. He explores Paul Cézanne's painting 'Alexis Reads a Manuscript to Émile Zola' (1869-70), which is displayed at MASP. The artwork shows Paul Alexis reading to Émile Zola, and Cézanne's energetic brushstrokes create a sense of instability around the figures, symbolizing the unfinished manuscript. This painting, discovered in Zola's Médan home in 1927, was left incomplete by Cézanne in 1870 due to the Franco-Prussian War and his fallout with Zola, following Zola's 1886 novel that portrayed a painter as a failed genius. Martinez contrasts Zola's confident critique with Cézanne's self-doubt, referencing Merleau-Ponty’s work to emphasize the importance of uncertainty in Cézanne's artistry. He also mentions another 1869 painting in a Swiss collection and Cézanne's portrait of his father, linking them to Dutch art and Manet. Zola's reviews shifted the focus of art to the artist's emotions, while Cézanne's insecurities influenced later figures like Picasso and Matisse.