Retrato de Paul, el hijo del artista

Cezanne's son Paul was born in January 1872, and his father hid him for six years. The painter was living on an allowance from his own father, a banker in Aix who knew nothing about Hortense Fiquet or the child, and the letters home were written accordingly. The arrangement broke in 1878, when the banker opened a letter from a friend that mentioned Madame Cezanne and the boy, and halved the allowance.

This head belongs to the middle of that silence, catalogued at 1875, when Paul was three. It is very small, 17 centimetres by 15. Cezanne painted and drew his son more than any other sitter, and in later years he demanded several hours of stillness and silence at a time.

He married Hortense in April 1886. His father died that October and left him enough money to stop thinking about dealers.