One of Cézanne’s early paintings, Interior with Two Women and a Child, expresses the tension of the young artist’s searching and reveals his fascination with the art of the old masters, as well as the discovery of Gustave Courbet’s creative principles. The scene depicts the artist’s mother and sisters. However, this painting does not create an impression of genre. The artist’s attention is primarily focused on the materiality of objects and the dense atmosphere around them. The female figures seem to be frozen. Dark contours outline the silhouettes, and the intensely burning colors convey Cézanne’s emotional pain related to the work process, which is nevertheless moderated by the disciplining will of intellect.