Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) is widely acknowledged as the 'father' of modern art. He was initially associated with the Impressionists, but his innovations in representing the natural world laid the foundations for the art of the twentieth century, paving the way for Cubism and abstraction. This film analyses the radical nature of his invention, tracing its origins in the art of the nineteenth century and the work of the Old Masters. This film examines many of Cézanne's works in detail and draws on the observations of a wide range of historians and commentators, including among many others the artists Howard Hodgkin, R B Kitaj and Bridget Riley, the critic John Golding and the artist's granddaughter, Aline Cézanne. Location filming took place at the Grand Palais in Paris, at Cézanne's home town of Aix-en-Provence, the artists' colony of Auvers-sur-Oise, and the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania.