Jean-Pierre Cassigneul

The Emerald Necklace

20th Century

French Post-Impressionist painter Georges d’Espagnat captures a charming moment between a mother and her child in this vibrant oil on canvas. Rendered with a studied use of complementary colors and bold brushstrokes, the painting showcases the artist's unique Post-Impressionist style. Remembered as one of the most individualistic artists of the 20th century, his distinctive canvases bring together the loose brushwork of the Impressionists and the bold color palette favored by the Fauves. Together, they achieve a vibrant spontaneity that lends itself well to the carefree subjects of the present work. Masterfully composed, La lecture au jardin moves beyond the Impressionist instinct to capture a fleeting moment on canvas. Rather, d'Espagnat succeeds in creating a deep feeling of harmony in the work. Warm colors are perfectly balanced with cool tones, while vertical and horizontal lines are softened by the curves of the foliage and his subjects' figures. Through his simplification of forms and intentional use of color and line, he creates a scene that is carefully designed and thoroughly modern. A similar view of a mother and her child by d'Espagnat is currently in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York). The Post-Impressionist painter was an individualist since his youth, choosing to forgo traditional schooling in order to independently study the Old Masters in the Louvre. He soon became involved with the most prominent Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters of the age, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Signac, who themselves existed outside the traditional norms of French Academic training. In 1891, he exhibited at the Salon des Refusés, and again the following year at the Salon des Indépendants. By 1895, he held his first one-man show in Paris, and just three years later his success earned him a solo show at the prestigious Durand-Ruel Gallery. Between 1905 and 1910 he made several trips to visit Renoir on the Côte d’Azur. Their close friendship resulted in a group exhibition at Marcel Bernheim...

René Magritte 1898-1967 Belgian Le carnaval du sage (The Sage’s Carnival) Signed “Magritte” (lower right); titled and dated "Le carnaval du sage 1947" (en verso) Oil on canvas The enigmatic paintings of René Magritte have become some of the most familiar and celebrated of the Surrealist movement. Among the most influential of the Surrealist painters of the 20th century, Magritte is an artist of international renown, as beloved for his popular appeal as he is for the psychological intensity of his works. The present oil on canvas, entitled Le carnaval du sage, was executed in 1947 at the height of his career, and it is a tour-de-force example of the haunting, mysterious scenes that comprise his oeuvre. Painted in the years following the Second World War, Le carnaval du sage showcases several recurring themes from Magritte’s oeuvre. Chiefly, a juxtaposition between the visible and the hidden is keenly felt. Throughout his career, Magritte explores the psychological obsession with revealing what is hidden, particularly with regard to the human face. In his Le fils de l’homme, he obscures the face of a man in a bowler hat with an apple, while his Les amants (Metropolitan Museum of Art) conceals the faces of two lovers with white sheets. In Le carnaval du sage, Magritte juxtaposes the blatant nudity of his central figure by masking her face, simultaneously revealing and concealing her from the viewer. The work also incorporates two of Magritte’s most common tropes – the glass of water and the baguette. Lending the scene a strange sense of domesticity, they appear infinitely familiar and distinctly out of place, and thus heighten the uncanny effect of Magritte’s composition. In the background hovers a ghost obscured by a sheet, a figure which was of particular fascination to Magritte beginning in 1946. He once wrote to his fellow Surrealist Paul Nougé: "I saw in a dream an answer to the problem of the ghost: the traditional ghost draped...

Title: Shepherd in the Pyrenees Artist: Enric Porta i Mestre (1898–1993) Technique: Oil on canvas Style: Post-Impressionism with Expressionist influences Dimensions: Unframed: 23.6 x 31.9 in Framed: 29.9 x 38.2 in Signature: Signed in the lower right corner as "E. Porta". Date: 1956 (according to the inscription on the back). DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK Shepherd in the Pyrenees by Enric Porta i Mestre depicts a rural scene with a striking sense of introspection and evocative charm. The painting portrays a shepherd tending to his flock amidst the mountainous landscape typical of the Catalan Pyrenees. The composition captures the serenity and beauty of nature through vibrant colors and dynamic brushstrokes. The work reflects a Post-Impressionist style with loose, bold strokes and vivid tones, combined with Expressionist influences in its ability to evoke emotions beyond the physical depiction. The energetic and textured brushwork infuses the painting with a lively rhythm, while the rich palette of greens and blues immerses the viewer in the landscape's tranquil atmosphere. In this piece, Porta i Mestre showcases a mastery of color and light, illustrating his deep connection to his homeland and its rural life, which served as a source of inspiration throughout his career. ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Enric Porta i Mestre (La Pobla de Segur, 1898–1993) was a Catalan painter known for his landscapes, still lifes, and costumbrist depictions. Trained in Lleida and Barcelona, Porta debuted in 1922 with an exhibition in the Catalan capital. He later moved to Paris to further his artistic studies, where he connected with avant-garde artists such as Miquel Villà...

*UK BUYERS WILL PAY AN ADDITIONAL 20% VAT ON TOP OF THE ABOVE PRICE Sieste au Jardin Public by H. Claude Pissarro (b. 1935) Oil on canvas 46 x 55 cm (18 ¹/₈ x 21 ⁵/₈ inches) Signed ...