--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is not possible to overstate the…" description: "\"It is not possible to overstate the influence of Paul Cezanne on twentieth-century art. He's the modern Giotto, someone who shattered one kind of pictu..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/jerry-saltz-1712_art_it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-infl_847258.jpg" --- # It is not possible to overstate the influence of Paul… ![“It is not possible to overstate the influence of Paul Cezanne on twentieth-century art. He's the modern Giotto, someone who shattered one kind of picture-making and invented a new one that the world followed.” quote by Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/jerry-saltz-1712_art_it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-infl_847258.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/jerry-saltz-1712_art_it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-infl_847258.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/jerry-saltz-1712_art_it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-infl_847258.jpg) > “It is not possible to overstate the influence of Paul Cezanne on twentieth-century art. He's the modern Giotto, someone who shattered one kind of picture-making and invented a new one that the world followed.” [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Paul Cezanne reshaped modern art by breaking old conventions and creating a new visual language that reshaped. **In simple terms:** Cezanne changed art by inventing a new style that others followed. Key Takeaway Study how innovators disrupt and inspire. Themes innovation influence art history legacy Mood analytical critical Type historical inspirational When to use this quote - museum curation - art education - creative practice - design thinking Key Concepts modernism visual perception creative disruption Questions to Reflect On - Who else contributed to this shift? - What risks arise from idolizing a single artist? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on one figure can obscure other contributors and broader movements. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Cezanne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cezanne/) [Giotto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giotto/) [Influence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/influence/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Art cannot be modern. Art is primordially eternal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/egon-schiele/art-cannot-be-modern-art-is-primordially-eternal/) [Egon Schiele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/egon-schiele/) > [Make it new is the message not just of modern art but of modern consumerism, of which modern art is largely a mirror image.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-lasch/make-it-new-is-the-message-not-just-of-modern-art-but-of-modern/) [Christopher Lasch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-lasch/) > [In sharp contrasts to traditional art, modern art does not hide the fact that it is something made and produced: on the contrary, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-adorno/in-sharp-contrasts-to-traditional-art-modern-art-does-not-hide-the/) [Theodor Adorno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-adorno/) > [My work as a painter has always been tied to Modernism. I read everything I could find related to art, from Paul Cézanne through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-askew/my-work-as-a-painter-has-always-been-tied-to-modernism-i-read/) [Ed Askew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-askew/) > [“The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution. Paul Cezanne”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-cezanne/the-day-is-coming-when-a-single-carrot-freshly-observed-will-set-off-2/) [Paul Cézanne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-cezanne/) > [For - to say a few words on technique - whereas the curved line was used predominantly for reasons of beauty, (Phidias, Michelangelo, Raphael,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theo-van-doesburg/for-to-say-a-few-words-on-technique-whereas-the-curved-line-was-used/) [Theo van Doesburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theo-van-doesburg/) > [Every painter must traverse for himself that distance from Paris to Aix (where Paul Cézanne worked a lot, fh) or from Venice to Toledo…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsden-hartley/every-painter-must-traverse-for-himself-that-distance-from-paris-to/) [Marsden Hartley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsden-hartley/) > [The question before me, now that I am old, is not how to be dead, which I know from enough practice, but how to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/the-question-before-me-now-that-i-am-old-is-not-how-to-be-dead-which/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [Science is our century's art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-freeland-judson/science-is-our-century-s-art/) Horace Freeland Judson > [Opera is an 18th- and 19th-century art that must find a 20th-century audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/goeran-gentele/opera-is-an-18th-and-19th-century-art-that-must-find-a-20th-century/) Goeran Gentele > [Christian art today should be twentieth-century art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-schaeffer/christian-art-today-should-be-twentieth-century-art/) [Francis Schaeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-schaeffer/) > [The art that we should be doing today, in the twenty-first century, is art that is not for the museum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tania-bruguera/the-art-that-we-should-be-doing-today-in-the-twenty-first-century-is/) [Tania Bruguera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tania-bruguera/) > [Twentieth-century art may start with nothing, but it flourishes by virtue of its belief in itself, in the possibility of control over what seems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-alvarez/twentieth-century-art-may-start-with-nothing-but-it-flourishes-by/) [Al Alvarez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-alvarez/) > [I think 21st century should be art without objects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marina-abramovic/i-think-21st-century-should-be-art-without-objects/) [Marina Abramovic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marina-abramovic/) > [“I painlessly came to realize that the reverence I felt for the holiness of life is not ever likely to be entirely at home…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eudora-welty/i-painlessly-came-to-realize-that-the-reverence-i-felt-for-the/) [Eudora Welty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eudora-welty/) ## More by Jerry Saltz > [One argument goes that recessions are good for female artists because when money flies out the window, women are allowed in the house. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/one-argument-goes-that-recessions-are-good-for-female-artists-because/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [Kinkade estimated that one of his paintings hung in every twenty homes in America. Yet the art world unanimously ignores or reviles him. Me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/kinkade-estimated-that-one-of-his-paintings-hung-in-every-twenty/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [The German ueber-photographer Andreas Gursky was the perfect pre-9/11 artist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/the-german-ueber-photographer-andreas-gursky-was-the-perfect-pre-9-11/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [The debut show, “Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary,” is supposed to be about how artists reuse humble or unusual materials. There’s good work here,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/the-debut-show-second-lives-remixing-the-ordinary-is-supposed-to-be/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [While the space for artists and curators has increased enormously, maybe, just maybe, that's left room for too many people calling themselves artists and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/while-the-space-for-artists-and-curators-has-increased-enormously/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [Those who love him love that he sells the most art; they take it as a point of faith that this proves Kinkade is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/those-who-love-him-love-that-he-sells-the-most-art-they-take-it-as-a/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > ['Untitled' is a time machine that can transport you to 1992, an edgy moment when the art world was crumbling, money was scarce, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/untitled-is-a-time-machine-that-can-transport-you-to-1992-an-edgy/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [I love art dealers. In some ways, they're my favorite people in the art world. Really. I love that they put their money where…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/i-love-art-dealers-in-some-ways-they-re-my-favorite-people-in-the-art/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [My nominee for Best Picture of the year - maybe the best picture ever, because it's essentially made up of and is an ecstatic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/my-nominee-for-best-picture-of-the-year-maybe-the-best-picture-ever/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [Many things happened in the sixties, but the period is no more significant, better, or more 'political' than today. It's time to turn the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/many-things-happened-in-the-sixties-but-the-period-is-no-more/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [When people in stadiums do the Wave, it's the group-mind collective organism spontaneously organizing itself to express an emotion, pass time, and reflect the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/when-people-in-stadiums-do-the-wave-it-s-the-group-mind-collective/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [Few contemporary artists mined the space between the ordinary and the strange better than Orozco did.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/few-contemporary-artists-mined-the-space-between-the-ordinary-and-the/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [The giant white cube is now impeding rather than enhancing the rhythms of art. It preprograms a viewer's journey, shifts the emphasis from process…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/the-giant-white-cube-is-now-impeding-rather-than-enhancing-the/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [Art schools are partly the villain here. (Never mind that I teach in them.) This generation of artists is the first to have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/art-schools-are-partly-the-villain-here-never-mind-that-i-teach-in/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) > [There's one Baldessari work I genuinely love and would like to own, maybe because of my Midwestern roots and love of driving alone. 'The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/there-s-one-baldessari-work-i-genuinely-love-and-would-like-to-own/) [Jerry Saltz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) [Explore all 213 Jerry Saltz quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-dragon/i-think-a-business-guy-is-different-from-an-artist-they-walk/) [G-Dragon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-dragon/) > [“The only thing--I tell you this straight from the heart--that disgusts me in Salzburg is that one can't have any proper social intercourse with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/the-only-thing-i-tell-you-this-straight-from-the-heart-that-disgusts/) [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-amadeus-mozart/) > [The sublime in art is the attempt to express the infinite without finding in the realm of phenomena any object which proves itself fitting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/the-sublime-in-art-is-the-attempt-to-express-the-infinite-without/) [Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georg-wilhelm-friedrich-hegel/) > [Art isn't done to decorate apartments, but to wage war against the enemy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/art-isn-t-done-to-decorate-apartments-but-to-wage-war-against-the/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) [Browse all 48,643 Art quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is not possible to overstate the influence of Paul Cezanne on twentieth-century art. He's the modern Giotto, someone who shattered one kind of picture-making and invented a new one that the world followed.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jerry Saltz" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-influence-of-paul-cezanne-on/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Art" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-influence-of-paul-cezanne-on/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/jerry-saltz-1712_art_it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-infl_847258.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/jerry-saltz-1712_art_it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-infl_847258.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/048/jerry-saltz-1712_art_it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-infl_847258.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is not possible to overstate the influence of Paul Cezanne on twentieth-century art. He's the modern…” — Jerry Saltz", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jerry Saltz", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-saltz/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It is not possible to overstate...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-influence-of-paul-cezanne-on/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-saltz/it-is-not-possible-to-overstate-the-influence-of-paul-cezanne-on/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```