Paul Cézanne (say-zahn) met Marie-Hortense Piquet on his first trip to Paris. She was a model. She later became his wife and the mother of his only child.

Cézanne didn't understand women at all. He did not understand his wife.

She didn't like his pictures much either. She posed for her husband during summers. The portraits show her with a far away look. Her eyes never meet the viewer's.

Some people think that Madame Cézanne does not look like the model. It is not like a photograph. It is an abstract idea of the model.

In the painting Madame Cézanne looks feminine like other ladies of that time. She is not smiling. She looks like she is worrying about something.

Usually paintings of ladies appear to be happy. Some people think that Cézanne's own shyness and feelings may be shown in this painting of his wife.