Émile Zola

This is the most autobiographical of the 20 novels in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. It provides an insight into his friendship with Cezanne and presents an account of the turbulent Bohemian world in which the Impressionists came to prominence.

The Masterpiece

Shaimaa Emad Fekry

So full of mature content, the whole story is sex scenes and nudity, 
I hated the end so much, 
I don't get why? Like ugh I was so shocked! No I didn't like it and that's all I gotta say.

The Masterpiece is the tragic story of Claude Lantier, an ambitious and talented young artist from the provinces who has come to conquer Paris and is conquered by the flaws in his own genius. While his boyhood friend Pierre Sandoz becomes a successful novelist, Claude's originality is mocked at the Salon and turns gradually into a doomed obsession with one great canvas. Life - in the form of his model and wife Christine and their deformed child Jacques - is sacrificed on the altar of Art. The Masterpiece is the most autobiographical of the twenty novels in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. Set in the 1860s and 1870s, it provides a unique insight into his career as a writer and his relationship with Cézanne, a friend since their schooldays in Aix-en-Provence. It also presents a well-documented account of the turbulent Bohemian world in which the Impressionists came to prominence despite the conservatism of the Academy and the ridicule of the general public.

Rowena Wiseman

After Zola's childhood friend Cezanne read this novel, he never spoke to him again. The Masterpiece traces artist Claude's obsession with creating the perfect painting. Zola's descriptions of painting feel so authentic I felt as though he was holding a paintbrush rather than a pen. The story traces a group of artists full of hope and optimism in their youth, who are slowly strangled by their own dreams. Art is the mistress that Claude's wife can never compete with. The novel shows creativity as a curse, rather than a gift. There's a shockingly heartbreaking scene towards the end that's a cautionary tale for anyone caught in the clutches of creativity. Claude's artworks may have been a failure, but Zola's novel is a masterpiece.

Erin 

** spoiler alert **
           I read this for my Impressionism class, and while I was at first annoyed that we had to read a novel, I'm so glad we did. It really is tragic watching the deterioration of the marriage and love story of Claude and Christine, feeling her pain at being upstaged by a painting that her husband is obsessed with and loves more than he loves her, but in an infatuating and obsessive way. This adds to the beautiful meeting they have at the beginning of the novel, as well as the loss of their child at the end. Jacques really is the victim in this entire piece, ignored by his father who doesn't notice him and always silenced by his mother who only wishes for the attention of her husband. The various other characters are miserable yet intriguing as well, and it's interesting to try and determine who their real life counterparts are in the Impressionism world. Nevertheless, what became a tragic story intrigued me, and I never regretted reading this for class once.

The Masterpiece

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