Paul Cézanne

Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin was born in Paris, France, where he worked at a relative's lingerie shop, as well as for the French government's railway before studying at the Académie Suisse in 1861. There, he met Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro with whom he maintained lifelong friendships. While he never achieved the stature of his friends, his influence on their work was significant. Cézanne attempted his first etching based on a Guillaumin paintings of barges on the River Seine.

Guillaumin's work was exhibited at the Salon des Refusés in 1863. He then became a friend of Vincent van Gogh whose brother, Theo, helped him sell some of his works. Major museums around the world, such as the Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg, the Tate Gallery in London and the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco, display Guillaumin's art, noted for its intense colours.