Émile Zola

Cézanne was a schoolmate in the south of France, and close friend for years. Flaubert was friend and mentor, Maupassant a follower but also, with Huysmans, a collaborator and regular dining companion. As a young journalist, he wrote fearlessly in support of Manet, who with Renoir frequented the same café. He met Mallarmé through Manet, and Turgenev and Daudet through Flaubert. Bjørnson and Mirbeau, both friends, strongly supported him over the Dreyfus affair. Zola’s depiction of a fictional artist heavily based on Cézanne, Monet and Manet finally cost him Cézanne’s friendship, despite Monet and Pissarro’s interventions.