Marie-Hortense Fiquet

Marie- Hortense Fiquet ( born April 22, 1850 in Saligney at Dole, † 1922) was a French painter model and lover, muse and future wife of Paul Cézanne, the Post-Impressionist painter and a pioneer of Cubism.

Life

Hortense Fiquet was a bookbinder 's assistant and worked as a painter model to acquire a little extra income. Cézanne learned the eleven years younger Hortense at the Académie Suisse in 1869 know in Paris, and they led a relationship. 1870 Cézanne lived and Fiquet during the Franco-German War in the fishing village of L' Estaque near Marseilles; the conscription had eluded Cézanne.

Although Hortense Cézanne shared a passion for painting is not, but he sat patiently model. From the beginning of the seventies to the early nineties, 26 paintings by Hortense are known. She let the strenuous sessions motionless and patiently endure; in the paintings she usually has a strict, closed expression.

After the end of the Paris Commune, the couple returned to Paris in May 1871. There, on January 4, 1872, their son Paul was born. Cézanne hid its not befitting family before the Father, in order not to lose the money that this left him come to life as an artist.

From late 1872 to 1874 the family lived in Auvers- sur- Oise. In the years between 1874-1880 Cézanne commuted between Paris, where Hortense and his son were pulled, Aix, Marseille and L' Estaque. Towards the end of the 1870s, her father learned about Cézanne from the relationship a secret for long held to Hortense and the common illegitimate son Paul. He shortened it, the monthly change in half.

On April 28, 1886, Cézanne and Hortense Fiquet married in Aix -en- Provence, when her son Paul Jr. was 14 years old. The marriage was already broken, as Cézanne had a fear of women, and after a childhood trauma fear of touching, triggered by a kick of a fellow student. Paul junior should be legalized by the marriage of his rights. In October, after the death of his father, Cézanne, his mother and sisters inherited his assets.

Paul Cézanne: Portrait of Mme Cézanne, 1883-87, collection of Henry P. McHenny, German Town ( Pennsylvania)

Paul Cézanne: Portrait of Mme Cézanne, 1885, private collection

Paul Cézanne: Portrait of the son Paul, 1888-90, National Gallery of Art, Washington ( DC)

Since the marital relationship had deteriorated progressively, Hortense moved with her son to Paris. In 1890 Cézanne was diagnosed with diabetes; by the disease, he was even more difficult in dealing with his fellow men. In the hope that the disturbed relationship with Hortense could stabilize, Cézanne traveled with her and son Paul through Switzerland. The attempt failed, because Cézanne returned to the tour in the Provence back, Hortense and Paul to Paris.

As Cézanne deposited his will with a notary public in September 1902, he graduated from his wife Hortense 's heritage and declared it his son Paul sole heir. In October 1906 Cézanne was dying. His housekeeper sent a telegram to Paris, but the news reached the family too late.

Literature and source

• Ulrike Becks - Malorny: Cézanne, 1839-1906. Pioneer of Modern Art. Taschen Verlag, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-8228-5583-6