An oil on Panel painting showing the view from The Pont des Arts towards the Square du Vert Galant and the Pont Neuf in Paris by Claude Marin.
Claude Marin was born in 1914 in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), where his grandparents lived.
Until he was ten, the young man lived with his parents in Vannes, where his grandfather, a former mayor of the city, painted and wrote plays.
After moving to Nantes, the young man undoubtedly benefited from his grandfather’s advice and the close relationship with his grandmother, who secretly arranged
his first art classes for him.
Drawn to art in all its forms, he bought a hand-cranked Pathé camera and started a film club in Nantes.
In 1935, after his marriage, his parents gave him a photography shop in Quiberon, Brittany.
Having never stopped painting, he exhibited his canvases for the first time in 1938 in Vannes, then in Nantes, in a gallery where his grandmother, knowing his family’s interest in painting, took him to see the gallery’s exhibitions.
During the war, he joined the Resistance.
In 1945, after the war ended, he partnered to open a photography shop in Dinan, Brittany, continuing to paint despite the difficulties he faced.
After his shop closed in 1948, he decided to go to Paris to try his luck and support his family, who had remained in Dinan.
He became the first silhouette artist in Montmartre and with his paintings beginning to win awards, critics started to take notice.
His first major exhibition was in 1952 at the Bernheim Gallery in Paris.
From then on, exhibitions followed one after another, and he was able to make a living from his painting.
In 1974, he exhibited in the USA at the Finley Gallery.
He received an award at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1985.
Despite experiencing the onset of blindness, he continued to paint until 1997.
He passed away in 2001 at the age of 87.
This view of the Seine, dated 1988, places us at the height of the painter’s career. At this time, he was living in Montmartre, where he had a studio on Rue Poulbot.
He painted all of Paris: the gardens, the café terraces, the bustling streets, and of course, the Seine, an inexhaustible source of inspiration for so many artists.
Marin has set his easel here on the Pont des Arts in Paris facing the Ile de la cite and more precisely the Square du Vert Galant at its edge.
On the right hand we can see the second section of the Pont Neuf with the bell tower of the Saint-Séverin Church on the horizon.
In a highly Impressionist style, Marin captures an atmosphere here; the humidity and mist are palpable, while the material elements are rendered succinctly.
The aim was to make the viewer feel what he himself felt when he painted the canvas.
A beautiful, understated, and moving touch to complete this distinctive work.
Oil on panel, signed and dated lower right, in a gilt and patinated wood frame.
Unframed 9 X 11 inches.
Framed 14 ½ X 16 ½ inches.