A vivid depiction of a little hamlet in Provence by French Painter Maurice Lemaitre.
Maurice Lemaitre was born in 1929 in Gouy-sous-Bellonne in the Pas-de-Calais department of France.
He was a self-taught painter who trained by interacting with regional painters, receiving their advice and working tirelessly to improve his technique.
A landscape painter, he expressed himself best in a post-impressionist style.
He set up his easel in places that the illustrious Masters of Impressionism had immortalized before him.
He exhibited in numerous Salons, including the Salon des Artistes Français and the Salon des Artistes Indépendants, as well as in Barbizon.
He received the “Grand Prix des Paysagistes Français” (Grand Prize for French Landscape Painters).
In the 1960s, several Parisian galleries, recognizing his talent, organized solo exhibitions for him.
Other exhibitions followed, notably in the USA, in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Detroit, but also in Spain, Moscow, Geneva, and Tokyo…
Several of his works are included in state collections as well as in private French and foreign collections.
He died in 2018.
Maurice Lemaitre offers us a magnificent landscape of Provence.
For it is indeed the Provençal countryside that the artist wishes to depict.
He dedicates more than the lower half of the canvas to conveying the essence of this mythical Provence, with its ever-present silvery-green olive trees and the blossoming of poppies, which, like a blazing sheaf, make the fields glow with their vibrant red color.
There is also a sun that overwhelms with its heat the ochre houses with their small windows, which seem to shrink under the power of the star.
In the distance, the hills are adorned with lavender tones and seem to send us their fragrant scent.
A few hardy figures are visible, all wearing hats to mitigate the intense heat.
An audacious composition, with a very prominent foreground, leaving only a narrow band at the top.
However, the composition is very well balanced and exudes an atmosphere of tranquility and serenity.
All that’s missing is the song of the cicadas…
Note the treatment of the poppy field, which seems to leap out of the canvas.
A moving work, perfectly reflecting the style of Maurice Lemaitre.
Original oil on canvas, signed in the lower right corner, in a magnificent gilded wooden frame.
Unframed 13 x 18
Framed 23 x 27