Cezanne and his friends in Oxford

The Guardian's review suggests this is the first full-scale exhibition of the private art collection of Americans, Henry and Rose Pearlman. Their interests in landscapes, still life and portraiture gives us a chance to see a different collection of the modern greats. I was able to enjoy this exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum after hours on Saturday evening. The first room was a delicate display of Cezanne's unfinished watercolours; sensitive and subtle in his use of colours and texture. In the second red-walled room, it was amazing to see a range of brightly coloured oil paintings by Cezanne's contemporaries such as Degas, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Manet. Two brilliant oils by Cezanne were almost hidden; a splendid, classic view of Mont Sainte-Victoire, and the shadowy forest scene Cistern in the Park of Chateau Noir. And then the final room included wonderful portraits by Modigliani, textural paintings by Chaïm Soutine, the sensual and tropical motifs of Gaugin, and minimalist scultpures of Jacques Lipchitz. Aesthetically satisfying...