A beautiful Oil on Panel of the Seine River, near Rouen, by French Painter Albert Malet.
Born in Bosc le Hard, north of Rouen in 1912, Malet began painting at the age of 19, benefiting from the advice of his illustrious teacher, Robert Antoine Pinchon, himself a pupil of Albert Lebourg (two masters of the Rouen school).
A talented colorist and luminist, Malet captures on canvas the fleeting atmosphere and fluctuating colors of his subjects.
Setting up his easel in the Normandy countryside, he knew how to allow himself to be immersed in places, the better to transcribe them.
His motto was “See everything, feel everything”
From 1942 onwards, he exhibited at the Salon de l’Ecole Française in Paris, then at the Galerie Legrip in Rouen, and abroad in Algeria, Germany, Japan…
He died in Rouen in 1986.
He is considered the last of the French Impressionists.
Our painting represents one of Albert Malet’s favorite subjects, the banks of the Seine and the river activity that takes place there.
The artist has framed one of the meanders of the river, taken from a bank near Rouen.
In the foreground, a flowery meadow occupies the entire width of the canvas, while a grove of trees gives the only verticality of the composition and begins the wooded horizon along the water.
The majority of the canvas is devoted to the background, where the misty atmosphere is palpable and where it becomes difficult to discern the hills from the clouds.
Only a few horizontal luminous touches allow a glimpse of a ray of sunlight escaping from this cloud mass.
A real Norman atmosphere.
It is very interesting to note that all the brushstrokes are visible, so we see that the artist builds his composition with multidirectional touches, creating his effects and the depth of his painting.
A very beautiful work, by a pure artist of the Rouen school.
Oil on panel, signed lower left, in a gilded wooden frame.
Unframed 13 X 18
Framed 21 X 26