Paul Cézanne e os Mistérios Cromáticos do Azul na Antiguidade Mediterrânea

Abstract

In this article, we explore the chromatic perception of blue in Ancient Greece and its potential resonance with the chromatic investigations of the Provençal painter Paul Cézanne. This study offers a counterpoint to the traditional modern interpretation of the painter’s relationship with the concept of the tectonic in Classical art. We argue that Cézanne’s connection with the early Greeks is revealed in the way the chromatic lexicon of the time engaged with blue—a color then unnamed yet semantically rich—through its predicative qualities in the description of objects. The concept of the tectonic, employed by authors such as Heinrich Wölfflin and Carl Einstein as a hallmark of Classical art, is here contrasted with the concept of the chthonic. The latter, we propose, chromatically emphasizes predicative qualities more attuned to density, contrast, and texture, rather than the constructive aspect of form, in Cézanne’s painting.