Paul Cezanne's wife's influence on his paintings was 'more than met the eye'

Paul Cezanne's wife, Marie-Hortense Fiquet, influence on his artwork and importance to modern portraiture was more interesting than conventionally thought.

According to a Rutgers art historian, Cezanne's "secret" wife changed the course of modern portraiture.

Susan Sidlauskas, Rutgers University professor of art history, said that Fiquet was a crucial presence to Cezanne, as he needed a subject to whom he was attached but who was not of his flesh, not his father whom he feared or his son whom he spoiled.

Fiquet historically was assumed to possess a personality so nondescript that Cezanne could project whatever he wished onto her but the truth might be that in this prolonged series of portraits, it was precisely her physical presence, her quietude and containment, that allowed the painter to fully experience a visceral and perceptual engagement in the presence of the other, she further added.

The portraits of his enigmatic wife will be exhibited for the first time at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art on November 19, "Madame Cezanne," which will bring together 24 of Cezanne's oil paintings and a selection of drawings and watercolors depicting his enigmatic wife.

The French artist's wife might appear standoffish in the 29 portraits the post-Impressionist rendered of her over two decades, but her influence on Cezanne's painting and importance to modern portraiture are more than meets the eye.

Fiquet has long been a divisive figure to art historians, who have often unjustly vilified her for her non-muselike qualities.

In truth, however, not much is known of Fiquet other than that she began her relationship with the artist in her 20s and bore him a son. The exhibition would allow a wider audience to see French artists' model afresh and not simply as the cranky, neglected wife.