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Portrait of Gustave Geffroy, 1895

Gustave Geffroy was a French novelist and art critic, noted as one of the earliest historians of Impressionist and Post-Impressionism artwork. In March 1894, Geffroy wrote a sympathetic article in his periodical Le Journal praising the work of painter Paul Cézanne, who until then had received little praise in critical circles.(Newton 41) Mutual friend Claude Monet arranged for a meeting between the two in November of that year, which ended abruptly due to Cézanne's oft-noted erratic behavior.(Murphy 100-01) Nonetheless, Geffroy continued to write favorably of Cézanne, believing "He is a great teller of truth. Passionate and candid, silent and subtle, he will go to The Louvre."(Murphy 163-64) Cézanne expressed thanks in letters to Geffroy in the months following their meeting, and, in a display of gratitude (and possible feeling Geffroy understood him), he elected to paint Geffroy's portrait.(Newton 41-42) The painter sent the critic a request in April 1895, after which Geffroy sat for Cézanne on a daily basis over a span of three months in the study at his home in Paris.(Murphy 100) After the three months' time, Cézanne, disappointed with the portrait's results, fled both the painting and Paris itself for his home in Aix-en-Provence. In a July 6th letter to Monet, he explained, "I am a little upset at the meager result I obtained, especially after so many sittings and successive bursts of enthusiasm and despair."(Wadley 103) It has also been speculated, despite his words of gratitude in the same letter to Monet of Geffroy's patience over the three month span, the artist had built up feelings of resentment, even hostility, toward the critic, causing his abandonment of the project for seclusion in Aix.(Howard 135) Reasons for the breakdown in relations on Cézanne's part have been attributed to everything from politics to religion to taste in art.(Newton 42)(Orsay 2006)

Despite its incomplete status, and Cézanne's own displeasure with the painting, Portrait of Gustave Geffroy was a popular retrospective work after Cézanne's death.(Orsay 2006) Cubist painters were interested in the geometrical dimensions of the bookcase and perspective of vast table space in relation to the rest of the picture.(Orsay 2006) Geffroy himself stated Cézanne painted the canvas [as a whole](...); the face and hands were saved for last, and left unfinished.(Orsay 2006)

The painting was donated to the French state in 19xx by the family of Auguste Pellerin[1] and is displayed at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.