Special thanks to Mr. Tony Lee for the patronage of this publication.PrefaceIn the late 1990s, a middle-aged dreamer set out to make a career change and venture into art. Strange and serendipitous en-counters on this new path gave him soulful guidance from the works of the great painters Matisse and Picasso. Many forbear-ers and muses also spurred him to continue as he persevered in his search for the creative insights of Cezanne, the Father of Modern Painting. The path is windy and rough throughout this unique journey, with plenty of laughs and tears. Therein is a story of fun, fascina-tion, and jaw-dropping discoveries. The story contains some mysterious plots. However, the re-ferred pictures and schema inserts are based on the artists' and writers' renderings, providing solid relativities. The story's de-velopment points the art to the secret of Nature and a long-for-gotten world linked to Bergson's philosophy, which was once inspirational and multifaceted but contentious. I sincerely hope you enjoy and benefit from this journey with me. Gratitude must go to Professor Vincent Shen, Professor John Rewald, Professor Noreen Larinde, Professor Johanna Liu, Professor Mark Antliff, Professor Michael Doran, Professor J.I. Liao, Professor Pete A.Y. Gunter, Professor Clair Chien, Mrs. Mary William Horsley, Ms. Annie LaBarge, Tony Lee, Yahsu Cheng, Bell Chen, Eric Sheu, Ben Yang, Lucia Liu, Shihui Yu, Angela Wang, Erica Lee, and Rebecca Chen for their help on various fronts; the meticulous English translation and proof-reading by Julie Sheu, Alice Lin, Helen Huang and a lady who wishes to remain anonymous. I also want to thank all my partners and benefactors in the foreground and background. Dreams must be captured and real-ized so the story can be shared. Chao-Liang Calvin Yu
