"I am with Cezanne"

I started reading Alex Danchev's Cezanne a Life. My sagging shelves prove that I'm forever seeking juicy art biographies or monographs. Over the last few years I've focused on picking up books about artists whose work I'm not very familiar with.  I'm very lucky to have built up a small library of art books at my disposal. 

Cezanne has a reputation for being a curmudgeon but the man gave his life over to painting (thanks to his father who left him a small fortune.) Painting was his work and his life. 

Here's a quote from a conversation with Vollard in 1896.

"Painting certainly means more to me than everything else in the world. I think my mind becomes clearer when I am in the presence of nature. Unfortunately, the realization of my sensations is always a very painful process with me. I can't seem to express the intensity which beats in upon my senses. I haven't at my command the magnificent richness of color which enlivens Nature...Look at that cloud; I should like to be able to paint that! Monet could. He had muscle."

Earlier this year, I mentioned another Cezanne book along with some color mixing links. You can find that here.

Have you read any artist bios or monographs recently that you'd recommend?