The Reinterpretation of Czannes the Large Bathers through James Joyces Aesthetic Theory
This article assesses Paul Cézanne’s modern style and technique in his The Large Bathers, but in light of James Joyce’s aesthetic theory that was his early pronouncements on beauty, goodness and truth, influenced by the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Cézanne’s impressionistic art, together with his progressive style and method are all crystallized in the Large Bathers, making it too controversial a painting to analyze. Significantly, Joyce and Cézanne’s works demonstrate a mastery of design, color, composition and draftsmanship, and that has made them both to be considered as forerunners of modern art and literature. Therefore, studying Cézanne’s thick layers of paint and undefined forms through the aesthetic theory of the controversial Irish writer leads us to a significant sense of “aesthetic arrest” which both artists attempted to follow and epiphanize in their works.
