The Artist’s Father,Reading L’Événement 1866

Paul Cézanne captured his father in paint, seated and absorbed in the newspaper ‘L’Événement’. The act of reading itself is a potent symbol here, echoing traditions from antiquity where scrolls and tablets signified knowledge and civic duty. Consider the newspaper in his hands. It is more than just paper; it is a vessel carrying the weight of public opinion, a scroll of modern times. Its presence in this portrait reminds us of the Roman senators with their scrolls, tools of power and insight. We see this act re-emerge throughout history. From Renaissance depictions of scholars poring over texts to contemporary images of individuals glued to screens. The hunger for information and the need to understand the world. The psychological weight of this need is profound. It's an echo of our collective desire for meaning, a craving that transcends eras and persists in our subconscious. This search for meaning is a continuous cycle, a recurring motif. The symbols evolve, yet the underlying human quest remains.