Paul Cézanne (January 19, 1839 - October 22, 1906), the painter of and from Aix-en-Provence, is the bridge from Impressionism to Cubism. In paintings such as the 1885 Mont Sainte-Victoire and 1887 Mme Cézanne we can see the inspiration for the Cubists and even the Fauvists.
To early 20th Century Modernists, Cézanne was the founder of modern painting. Henri Matisse called him "the father of us all".
Cézanne and the important novelist Émile Zola were friends from childhood and youth, but broke in later life over Zola's fictionalized depiction of Cézanne in the novel L'Oeuvre (The Masterpiece, 1886).
In recent years, a painting by Cézanne sold for US$ 60.5 million, the fourth highest price in history for a painting.