A Charming Oil on Canvas painting of the boats of the Seine River by French Swiss painter Lucien Laurent Gsell.
Of Swiss descent on his father’s side, Lucien was born in Paris in 1860 under the name Lucien Gell.
Later, he combined his mother’s name, Laurent, with that of his father, Gsell, to become Laurent-Gsell.
He attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, under the direction of his father, Caspar Gsell, and Alexandre Cabanel.
Nephew of Louis Pasteur, he painted several scenes depicting the work of the Pasteur Institute.
He exhibited for the first time at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1880, then at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and finally at the 1889 Universal Exhibition, where he won a prize.
Focusing on the artistic circles of the time, he associated with most of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters, as well as the poets of the era.
He was appointed official painter to the Navy in 1911.
Lucien Laurent Gsell passed away in 1944.
Our painting depicts the banks of the Seine, where, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the bourgeoisie would go to the countryside for the weekend to enjoy nautical pleasures or a lunch on the grass, in the tradition of paintings such as Claude Monet’s “La Grenouillère” or Georges Seurat’s “The Island of La Grande Jatte.”
The artist has magnificently captured this stormy atmosphere, where the choppy waters are tinged with iridescent reflections, darkened by threatening clouds.
A weeping willow stretches its branches to provide protective shade for a boat moored at a covered pontoon.
This remarkably rendered scene is beautifully balanced and conveys a sense of calm and tranquility.
Original oil on canvas, signed lower right, in a giltwood frame.
Unframed 21 X 25 1/2
Framed 29 X 33