Google Logo Honors Paul Cezanne's Birthday (PICTURES)
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Google has given its logo over to a colorful, Paul Cezanne-inspired "Google Doodle" in honor of the French artist's birthday.
Today marks the 172nd anniversary of Cezanne's birth. Cezanne, who was born January 19th, 1839 and passed away October 22nd, 1906, is known today for his vibrant and challenging portraits, landscapes and still-life paintings that bridge the divide between Impressionist and Cubist art.
Contrary to the wishes of his father, a successful banker, Cezanne left his small hometown of Cesana to pursue painting in Paris. The artist's striking, fractured and somewhat unfinished still-life paintings, like the one Google has selected (shown below), would become hugely influential for such masters as Picasso and his peers, as well as contemporary students of art.
The Guardian's Jonathan Jones explains Cezanne's legendary painting style:
Cézanne stared so intensely at nature he began to take it apart in his mind, to anatomise it, theorise it, on long hot afternoons in his studio in Aix-en-Provence and then reassemble the elements of reality in paintings that are pixellated constellations of insights, recognitions, memories and flashes of desire or rage.
According to Search Engine Land, "Google tweeted this morning that the logo you see on the home page was first created as a real oil painting by a Googler and then digitized." The tweet also included a picture of the oil painting.
Google has also featured homage logos for painters like Frida Kahlo, Edvard Munch, Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci and more.
Take a look at Google's Cezanne-inspired logo, and then check out our slideshow of the geekiest Google logos of all time.
THE GOOGLE LOGO:
THE PAINTING MADE FOR THE LOGO:
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The Huffington Post Catharine Smith
First Posted: 01/19/11 10:19 AM ET Updated: 05/25/11 07:25 PM ET