Don Quichotte, front view FWN 632 1875 35cm x 24
Don Quichotte back view FWN 633 1875 22.5cm x 16.5
I’ve never actually lived through a revolution; yea, sure, I’ve lived through governments that I haven’t liked or agreed with; and sometimes it’s been hard for me to understand how particular governments get elected! But I’ve never actually lived in a country where a situation has arisen where two persons, groups or parties each claim legitimate authority to govern, at the same time.
After the capture of the self-proclaimed Emperor Napoleon by the Prussian forces in 1871, the communards of Paris declared the end of the Empire and the beginning of the Republic. They set up their own system of government, with democratically elected representatives to conduct the affairs of the emerging Third Republic. Away from Paris, public fervour against the Emperor led the people of Aix to declare their support for the Third Republic: they tore down the bust of the Emperor from the Council Chamber of the Aix Town Hall and declared the local chemist as acting Mayor, with the local doctor as their deputy. The Acting Town Council went on to elect Cezanne’s father on to the Finance Committee, and Cezanne on to the Supervisory Committee of the School of Drawing.
The publishing of the Three Musketeers in 1844 raised interest in its Spanish relative, published a century earlier, the stories of Don Quixotte: the wandering knight whose mission is to rescue people in distress (think batman) and so restore the Age of Chivalry. He’s supported in this mission by a farmer (think Robin) who’s a bit slow to comprehend the significance of it all, and tends to somewhat deflate the high ideals of his hero.
The parallels, and therefore the meanings, of these novels for Cezanne’s day are not quite as clear as you might think: the choices are many – Republic and Empire; Realism and Idealism; Individuals and society. While the Three Musketeers fought against the abuses of the Old Regime, Don Quixotte represented the lost Age of Chivalry. This feeling of sentimental reminiscence with regard to change (think – we didn’t have much in those days, but we were happy then!) is one that seems often to occur.
In developmental theory, it has been referred to as the “Gamma Trap”. There seem to be two facets to this type of reaction – it follows a sudden outburst of dramatic change, and it seems to be regressive. The first facet is like a pan of milk on the hob – nothing seems to be happening for a long while, and then all of a sudden it boils over. Whether it’s human development or indeed, the stock-market, the phenomena seems to be the same: all of a sudden, the ordinary people of Aix rose up, and took control of their town, casting aside the due process of law. Nowadays, it seems to be occurring in many countries, and even in many sectors of society. “There’s a powerful force at work in markets that helps explain why stocks seem to do nothing for long periods and then suddenly lurch into activity. Market players have noticed this force—known by some as a “gamma trap”—and have been devising tools to estimate its size and direction in order to predict how markets will move and to trade around it.” Wall Street Journal, 9th July 19.
The second facet is that the gamma trap goes in the opposite direction to the one you think you’re going in; it’s as if you somehow regress, rather than carry on in the forward direction you’ve been heading. You suddenly find yourself going the other way, and asking yourself in bewilderment: how did that happen? As reported again for July’19 in the financial markets: “traders can sometimes find themselves in a gamma trap when the hedging exacerbates losses as stocks drop dramatically.” The action they take to alleviate the problem in fact exacerbates it! “How did I end up on the supervisory committee of the Aix School of Drawing?” you can almost hear Cezanne murmuring, over his coffee and croissant!
“Gamma Traps” in developmental theory refer to times when people (in a period of such dramatic change that it causes great anger and insecurity), plump for an option that does not address the underlying need for change. In such circumstances the alleviation of insecurity seems to overpower the need for change; and they relapse into their old ways, or into new ways that are not sufficiently ‘revolutionary’. (think taking pain killers because you’re afraid of going to the dentist!). Sometimes ‘gamma traps’ can last a generation – in France, the period from the revolution of 1848 to 1871, with Napoleon as head of state and self-proclaimed ‘Emperor’ was indeed a ‘gamma trap”; in 1848, the people overwhelmingly voted for something that only exacerbated the underlying problem!
Both these paintings are now in private collections; there’s not much interest in them as great works of art. There’s not even much reference to them in any of the authoritative books: John Rewald’s Catalogue of Cezanne’s Works simply says of ‘Don Quixotte, front view’ : “cf comments for “Don Quixotte, back view”, and visa versa, adding “strangely fragmented”. Cezanne was an avid reader, and I’m sure he used the time he was painting these paintings to reflect on the meaning of the Don Quixotte novels; but he gives no clue as to what he thought: except maybe, that it’s all a bit fragmented!
“Love does not begin and end the way we think it does.
Love is a battle;
love is a war;
love is growing-up”
James Baldwin, American Writer and Activist
Awarded the Commander de la Legion of d’Honneur in 1986