MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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‘The father of us all’
Paul Cezanne redefined modern painting and his influence rippled for over a century
(Left) One of the last versions of Mont Sainte-Victoire painted in 1906 the year of his death; (right) Paul Cezanne, September 12 1899
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FOR 18 years, between 1888 and 1906, Paul Cezanne kept returning to the Mont Sainte-Victoire, fascinated by the rugged, bare rock face of this 1,011-metre-tall mountain near his home town of Aix-en-Provence at the foot the southernmost tip of the Alps.
He may not have climbed it once, but in its shadow he did relentlessly reach for a different peak — an ultimate rendition of an infinitely complex visual experience.
“Look at Sainte-Victoire there. How it soars, how imperiously it thirsts for the sun,” he once commented. “For a long time I was quite unable to paint Sainte-Victoire; I had no idea [how] to go about it.”
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