ARMAND GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927) SAINT-PALAIS, VERS... Lot 28

ARMAND GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927) SAINT-PALAIS, VERS 1893 Oil on canvas Signed lower left Oil on canvas; signed lower left 65 X 81,4 CM - 25 5/8 X 32 IN. PROVENANCE The work will be included in the second volume of the Armand Guillaumin catalog raisonné, currently being prepared by the Guillaumin Committee, formed by Dominique Fabiani, Stéphanie Chardeau-Botteri and Jacques de la Béraudière. Private collection, France. "If M. Guillaumin keeps a certain tenderness for the mixtures on the palette, his coloring does not vibrate any less intensely. "1 A landscape painter with a powerful coloring, Armand Guillaumin is probably the least known of the great Impressionist painters to the general public, even though he was part of the movement from the beginning. Of modest origin, he was, unlike the other members of the group, forced to work (at night) and painted only in his spare time. This life of a 'galley slave', to use his own words, did not prevent him from taking part in all the battles: at the first Impressionist exhibition of 1874 in the former studio of the photographer Nadar, Guillaumin presented two paintings, which were not praised by the critics of his time. Although success was slow in coming, the painter nevertheless counted on the support of two of his friends, Cézanne and Pissarro, but also on the admiration of a certain Vincent Van Gogh who praised his talent as a colorist. The painter also gained the confidence of the art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who organized two exhibitions dedicated to him, the first in 1886 in the United States and a second a few years later in 1898. He did not hesitate to write about the fact that he was doing 'Fauvism before the letter'. But it is finally the year 1891 that marks a major turning point in the career of the artist. At the age of 50, he was the lucky winner of the National Lottery, which assured him a considerable fortune for the rest of his life. Being able to devote himself exclusively to painting, he gave up his job and began a series of trips, mainly to Crozant in the Creuse region, where he rented a house, but also to Agay, at the foot of the Esterel, and to Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, the setting for this painting. In this view of Saint-Palais, Guillaumin expresses his sense of bold and free color (although quite naturalistic) and his taste for rugged terrain and fair light. The horizon line is placed very high as the artist faces the rocks, reserving an extremely small space for the sky: a framing that may be influenced by Japanese prints, which Guillaumin, like Monet, collected. 1 Paul Adam, in "Peintres impressionnistes", article published in the Revue contemporaine, April 1886.