David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

and a sharp tongue and would sometimes
descend into bitter argument. Paul
Cézanne, tall and gruff, would come and
sit moodily in the corner, his trousers
held up with string. “I am not offering
you my hand,” Cézanne said to Manet
once before slumping down by himself.
“I haven’t washed for eight days.”
Claude Monet, self-absorbed and strong
willed, was a grocer’s son who lacked
the education of some of the others. His
best friend was the “easygoing urchin”
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who, over the
course of their friendship, would paint
eleven portraits of Monet. The moral
compass of the group was Camille
Pissarro: fiercely political, loyal, and
principled. Even Cézanne—the most