In Novemer of 1862, he returned to Paris. This time, he again experienced very little success. Two years later, in a momentary fit of discouragemet, Cezanne once again returned to his home in Aix. Historians think that this return was a result of the death of painter, Delacroix. Delacroix was one of Cezanne's greatest influences as an artist. From this point on, Cezanne's time was split between Paris and Aix (Venturi 164).
While in Paris, he began working on one of his first self-portraits. This portrait, among many of his firsts, were drawn and painted from a photograph. I think that this portrait was his way to let everyone know that he was serious about his chosen career path. The painting looks as if Cezanne only used four different blobs of paint: black, white, yellow, and red. I think that only a few colors were utilized in this painting because Cezanne wasn't experienced enough to use them all (Platzman 26). .
From 1865 to 1869, Cezanne experienced a lot of rejection from the art world. His painting were refused from the Salon on a regular basis. In 1870, he began living with a young women, Hortense Fiquet, whom he soon married. They moved to L'Estaque, a village 15 miles from Aix. This marrige was kept secret from Cezanne's father out of fear that he might cut Cezanne's money supply off. The next year, they returned to Paris (Venturi 164).
Among the rejected work was Cezanne's 1866 portrait of Antony Valabregue. I can only assume that after so much rejection from the main Salon, he only tried harder to infuriate them (out of spite). His "clotted" and "muddy-colored" style was definitly going against the grain of painters in that era, particularly the ones who regularly submitted work to the Salon. This peice, much like his early self-portraits contained very few colors. Blue is introduced only to color garments (Platzman 42). .
On Janurary 4, 1972, Hortense gave birth to a son, which they named Paul.