His Masterpiece

The Masterpiece is a highly fictionalized account of Zolas friendship with the painter Paul Cézanne. Zola and Cézanne grew up together in Aix-en-Provence the model for Zolas Plassans where Claude Lantier is born and receives his education. Like Cézanne Claude Lantier is a revolutionary artist whose work is misunderstood by an art-going public hidebound by traditional subjects techniques and representations. Zolas self-portrait can be seen in the character of the novelist Pierre Sandoz.