diana7011 's review for:

His Masterpiece by Émile Zola
5.0

Written when artists (painter's, explorer's, writer's, etc.) were trying to break though with new thoughts and expressions this novel details the trials and anguish relative to them. The author focused most of all on a artist and how he was effected and passionately driven by his art. The despair in not being able to realize his ambition, his absorption and decline, his fall into madness. Zola based the writer in the novel on himself, but what of the others? It was said that his protagonist was based on Manet, lines were attributed to come from Cezanne, yet maybe a combination of all the artists from the Impressionists period. Whether Zola wrote this book to diminish the importance of the artists or raise awareness of a breakthrough period is not conclusive. One thing is certain, they became famous and left their mark on the world.