Paul Cézanne (1839–1906) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and a central figure in the development of modern art, often described as the bridge between Impressionism and Cubism. He sought to give lasting structure to natural forms by constructing images through color rather than line, reducing nature to basic geometric shapes such as the cylinder, sphere, and cone. Known especially for his still lifes, landscapes like Mont Sainte-Victoire, and figure compositions such as The Bathers, Cézan