"I do not just paint what I see, I paint what I feel": the post-impressionist paintings by Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) turned out to be the starting points of the 20th century painting. The representatives of cubism and fauvism such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse led their art directly back to Cézanne. He was one of the first painters who consciously changed formats and perspectives in their paintings in order to achieve special effects and liveliness.

He was was born on 19 January 1839 in Aix-en-Provence in the family of a middle-class banker. Cézanne got artistic recognition very late, so most of his life he was financially dependent on his father. Continuous rejections of the Paris Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the constant rejection of the salons made him an unsociable person. When he left the education of a lawyer, which was preferred by his father, he continued his self-study in arts. His examples were Rubens, Delacroix and Poussin.He often worked and took part in mutual exhibition together with impressionists. But his style was different from that of impressionism, as he wanted to create a “strong and permanent art”. Only some special traits, like light color palette and shining colorfulness made him close to impressionism.

Cézanne painted the landscapes of the Aix-en-Provence, still lives and the scenes of the everyday life. Those made the majority of his motifs in which he wanted to represent his perception of world and nature. He developed a new conception of color, space and form, which was taken for an example by the next generations. He can be rightly called “the father of modern.”

The importance of his works was recognized only after his first individual exhibition in Paris 1895. It was followed by other exhibitions after which his paintings became demanded artworks. Later they were sold at high prices. Nevertheless, emotional state and health worsened rapidly. Even his wife and son, who both lived in Paris, could not get through to him. Cézanne died lonely from pneumonia in his studio in Aix-en-Provence on October 22, 1906.

The "myth of Cézanne" was thought up a year later in a large memorial exhibition of 56 paintings.

Günter Dietz developed a revolutionary method for the authentic reproduction of images, where not the usual printing inks are used, but the same original colors used by the artist. Depending on the artist's painting technique, up to 180 (!) various paint applications need to be applied in order to achieve a perfect replica of the original that also sensationally reflects the "relief" and pastosity of colour composition.

Here are the examples of  'Couple at the Garden Table' by August Macke:

Similarly, the material of the original carrier, such as reproduction on canvas, paper, wood, copper, parchment is always used.

The result is a perfect, gridless reproduction that comes very close to the original in expressiveness and effect. Even museum specialists often can not distinguish the replica from the original. Therefore, a special security notice must be inserted, which is visible only under X-rays.

The circulation of most of the Dietz replicas is limited, usualy to 950 copies. Each canvas replica is stretched onto a frame as the original, so you can retighten the canvas according to variations in room temperature and humidity. High-quality solid wood strips round off the image of every Dietz replica.

Numerous masterpiece paintings of Rembrandt, Caspar David Friedrich, Claude Monet, Gustav Klimt and various others have been recreated by the Dietz Offizin. Famous modern artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall used the method developed by Günter Dietz to have replicas of their works produced.

Press commentaries:

“The Dietz System provides images as good as the originals. What the electronics did with the invention of Hi-Fi and stereo for music playback - here the graphic technology made up for visual art.“ (Die Zeit)

“In theory there is no difference between the original and the Dietz replica. They should not be called reproductions, but facsimiles.“ (Newsweek)

“For art printers all over the world remains unrealizable to this day, what managed only Dietz with the help of printing technology: The perfect reproduction of painted works. “ (Der Spiegel)

Konrad Adenauer at the presentation of Dietz replica of the frieze "To the young St. Peter" (Bundeshaus Bonn)



Günter Dietz (on the left) and Marino Marini

The style of Impressionism that emerged in French painting in 1870 owes its name to the Claude Monet's landscape 'Impression, Soleil Levant'. After initial refusal it began a true triumphant advance.

Such painters as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Auguste Renoir and others created motifs from everyday life, urban and landscape scenes in a bright, natural light.

Impressionism can be seen as a reaction to the academic painting. The emphasis was not on content with its strict rules of painting structure, but on the object as it appears at any given moment, in an often random cut out. The reality was seen in its whole color variety in natural lighting. The studio painting was replaced by the open-air painting.

The brightening of the palette and the dissolution of firm contours was accompanied by a new way of handling with color. Often, the colors were no longer mixed on the palette but side by side on the canvas so that the final impression lies in the eye of the beholder with a certain distance. In "Pointillism", (with such painters as Georges Seurat or Paul Signac) this principle was carried to the extreme.

Outside France, Impressionism was taken up by such painters as Max Slevogt, Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth in Germany, and by James A. M. Whistler in the United States.

In sculpture, the impressionism expressed itself only conditionally. In the works of Auguste Rodin, who is considered one of the main representatives, you can see a resolution of the surfaces in which the play of light and shadow is included in the artistic expression. Degas and Renoir created sculptures as well.