Cézanne was born in Aix-en-Provence on 19 January 1839, as the son of a hatter who later became a banker. Emile Zola, who moved to Paris in 1858, was fellow student at Collège Bourbon (today Lycée Mignet),. Cézanne attended the drawing classes at the Museum in Aix. After graduating from secondary school, he began to study law in Aix, at his father's request. In 1860 he decorated the main drawing room at Jas de Bouffan, his father's estate, with allegorical wall pictures. In 1861 he abandoned his law studies in Aix and went to Paris to become a painter. While preparing for the entrance examination to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, he began to have doubts about his vocation. In spite of Zola's encouragement, he returned to Aix and joined his father's bank. However, a few months later he went back to Paris and began to study at the Académie Suisse. The Ecole des Beaux-Arts rejected him in as a student. In 1863 he took part in an exhibition at the Salon de Refusés (fellow exhibiting artists were, among others, Manet, Pissarro, Jongkind, Whistler). In the following years, Cézanne was not admitted to the Salon.

In 1869 he met Hortense Fiquet, who gave birth to their son Paul in 1872. He kept both a secret from his father. He evaded serving in the army in 1870 by hiding at Estaque in the bay of Marseille. The landscape pictures, which he created there, brought about the decisive artistic change. In 1873/74 he worked at Auvers-sur-Oise, together with Pissarro, who had a strong influence on him. In 1874, Cézanne took part in the Impressionist exhibition. The critics derided Cézanne's works even more than those by the other artists. In 1875, he met Victor Chocquet, a customs inspector and friend of the arts; he became Cézanne's most faithful collector and defender. After 1877, Cézanne no longer took part in exhibitions with Impressionist painters, but kept up his friendship with them. In 1882, Cézanne was admitted to the Salon, only to be refused again in 1884.

In 1886 he married Hortense. After his father's death in that same year, Cézanne inherited his fortune. Cézanne alternated living in Aix and in Paris. Zola's L'Œuvre, the novel about an artist's failure, ended the friendship between him and Cézanne. In 1894, Cézanne visited Monet in Giverny. In 1895 was his first big individual exhibition at Vollard, which made Cézanne suddenly famous. In 1901, he set up a studio at Chemin des Lauves (near Aix). Cézanne died in Aix on 22 October 1906.