Cezanne in the philosophy of Martin Heidegger

Philosophical reflexion on art and artistic activity played a very important role in Heidegger's intellectual development. His famous paper The Birth of an Artistic Work (Der Ursprung des Kunstwerks) marked, after all, the emergence of a fundamental shift in his philosophy. Art, in its specific approach to the world, might aid the working out of a "new beginning" in philosophy since, in Heidegger's view, the involvement of art in classical metaphysics had been the cause of error. Heidegger found a common voice, at different times, with poetry, fine arts (in one period he was very occupied with Paul Klee) and architecture. Only at the end of his life did he discover for himself the genius of the French painter Paul Cezanne, and he found in him an expression that almost coincided with the expression of his own thoughts. This comparison of Cezanne and Heidegger attempts to uncover other possible connections between the work of these two figures.