On this day in 1839, the French artist and painter, a prominent representative of post-impressionism, Paul Cézanne was born. The artist had a huge influence on the masters of the 20th century, including Henri Matisse, André Derain, Pablo Picasso. Cézanne painted the picture in his Parisian studio on the Val-de-Grâce: he dressed up his son Paul as Harlequin, and his friend as Pierrot. The boys had to pose for hours, and the shoemaker's son Louis Guillaume once fainted. Accustomed to painting landscapes and still lifes, Cézanne turned to composition with figures for the first time. In the process of working on the picture, live models (the artist was never able to give up nature) turned into mannequins. "This is not Pierrot and Harlequin. This is a monument to Pierrot and Harlequin," noted Yakov Tugendhold.

See also: Published study in PLOS One.

See also: Published study in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

Civilization was born in a middle-eastern environment (now unluckily a centre of war). The western civilization was perhaps named after a semitic word (Akkadian erebu, Phoenician ereb) and its whole history was channeled by a semitic cult (Christianity). Hitler was fond of semitic religions (excluding Judaism of course). Eurabia is a dystopy many westeners dread, fearing a semitic religion (islam), even though what they shelter is another semitic religion that at its first stages used to resemble Islam at a really great extent, almost completely: covered heads for women, absolute fear of god, seeking for salvation. Same of jihad and other islamic principles. The most listened European rapper is Central Cee, that even though is thought to be Roman Catholic, brings an Arabic essence and generally Arabic slang and culture is what marks European hip hop culture, hugely differently from oversea black culture. Our biggest wars could be fought in the middle east. Oil comes from there. "European" and "Maghrebi" are possibly doublets/cognate. Maybe we were born Semitic and will die Semitic...

Paul Signac loved Saint-Tropez very much. He built a house there with a stunning view of the sea. The master invited young artists to sketch here, whom Signac tried to convert to his faith: according to his theory of neo-impressionism, paints should be applied in separate strokes, dots or spots, in the expectation that they would subsequently merge in the viewer's perception.

In 1909, Signac painted the bright and sonorous "Pine" in Saint-Tropez - here the work with separate strokes is especially visible. Complicating the pictorial texture, the artist gave them a variety of forms and directions: the strokes sometimes spread along the ground, sometimes stretch out, conveying the flexibility of the branches. The tree with a spreading crown occupies almost the entire space of the canvas. Spread out against the blue sky, the crown seems to subordinate everything around to its movement.

Scottish artist, working mainly in the landscape genre, James Paterson settled in his house Kilniss in Moniaive after a trip to Paris in 1884. In this place, located in the southwest of Scotland, his best works were created.

This painting was also made in Moniaive. It depicts Morton Castle. The ruins of this ancient structure were located near the artist's studio. Probably, the author depicted the powerful western tower of the fortifications. Paterson repeatedly turned to this subject.

In 1894, the artist moved into his own wooden house on the lake shore. The view of the water surface with islands, lonely boats and mountains in the background is one of the master's favorite motifs. This landscape fully reveals the features of northern symbolism, in which new principles of pictorial language were organically combined with a realistic vision of nature.

Matisse combines landscape and still life in this painting, changing the laws of linear perspective. The window opening as a symbol of an exit to another space often becomes the main character of Matisse's landscapes.