Paul Cézanne, the French painter who ran with the Impressionists and heralded what became known as Cubism in modern painting, is credited with having said, "When color is at its richest, form is at its fullest." It’s not too much of a stretch to presume that if the guy who’s still referred to as the father of modern art had stepped into the bakery/café that bears his name, he might have amended the comment to something like "When food is at its freshest, taste is at its fullest." Sure enough, every sandwich ordered at Cezanne Café Bakery, a Central Square fixture under new ownership since last winter, comes on thick slices of bread that was kneaded and baked that morning in the kitchen visible just behind the counter.

Contrary to what one might expect, the café doesn’t feature a whole lot of delicacies native to the Mont Sainte-Victoire region of France, painted by Cézanne in endless variations. For that matter, you can’t even drop in and grab a piece of fresh fruit from a display resembling one of his many still lifes — let alone find a reproduction of such a picture while sipping a latte ($2.25 small/$2.75 large). Instead, the café seems to pay homage to the artist at work in his studio. A hodgepodge assortment of chairs is arranged haphazardly, raw-wood ceiling rafters are suspended above, and an exposed-brick wall is draped with African tapestries and elaborate tribal masks. Perhaps the color of the décor is kept to a minimum so you can appreciate the chromatics of the food itself. You can get heavily hued red-lentil soup ($2.25) — which is offered along with other varieties, such as creamy tomato and carrot-ginger, with a morning-sun-yellow frittata ($5.65) rising on an emerald-green bed of salad. The sandwiches are packed with a rainbow’s worth of stuffings, from the banana-yellow egg salad ($4.95) to a multi-chromatic composition of vegetables, like ruby-red peppers, purplish portobellos, and amethyst onions. The pot of gold at the end? How does a banana-nut muffin ($1.67) sound?

Cezanne Café Bakery, located at 424 Mass Ave, in Cambridge, is open Monday through Friday, from 7:45 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call (617) 547-9616.