Femme au miroir

1859

Father Purchases the Jas de Bouffan Estate

Louis-Auguste Cézanne acquired the Jas de Bouffan estate near Aix, which for many years served as the artist's home and studio and became one of his favorite motifs.

1861

Move to Paris to Pursue Painting

Against the objections of his banker father, he abandoned his law studies and moved to Paris at Zola's urging. Rejected by the École des Beaux-Arts, he studied at the free Académie Suisse, where he met Camille Pissarro.

late autumn 1862

Second Move to Paris

In late autumn 1862 he moved to Paris again and resumed his studies at the Académie Suisse; during this period he met Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley.

1863

Participation in the First Salon des Refusés

Cézanne's paintings were shown at the first Salon des Refusés, established by Napoleon III after the scandal over the rejection of works by Manet, Pissarro, and Monet.

early 1869

Meeting Hortense Fiquet

In early 1869, at the Académie Suisse, he met Marie-Hortense Fiquet, a bookbinder's assistant eleven years his junior — his future wife.

1870–1871

Franco-Prussian War: Life in L'Estaque

During the war he lived with Hortense Fiquet in the fishing village of L'Estaque near Marseille and evaded conscription; in January 1871 he was declared a deserter but managed to avoid capture.