Cézanne was a French Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation and influenced avant-garde movements of the early 20th century. Bridging late 19th-century Impressionism and early Cubism, he redefined form, color, and perspective. Initially, his paintings were met with incomprehension and ridicule from critics, but his approach to structure and composition later revolutionized modern art. Both Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso famously declared, “Cézanne is the father of us all.”