Édouard Leon Cortès

Avenue Opera, Front Lights

c. 1956

Édouard Leon Cortès is widely known for his Impressionistic renderings of Parisian promenades and rustic French hamlets. The son and pupil of Spanish painter Antonio Cortès, his influences included Barbizon painters Constant Troyon and Henri Harpignies.

Establishing a name for himself early on in his long career, Cortès first exhibited a painting he called La Labour at the Société des Artistes Français when he was still in his late teens. He found success among art critics as well as the public and earned renown in France. Cortès went on to study at École des Beaux-Arts.

As World War I gained steam, Cortès willingly joined the French military effort even though he was a pacifist. The artist spent time sketching enemy positions on the front lines, and this may have deepened his anti-war resolve. When he was able to return to his easel, Cortès desired solely to paint peaceful scenes of France’s capital city.

Later, during World War II, Cortès and his family spent time in Normandy to escape the horrors of the conflict. When asked about his depictions of horse-drawn carriages in the streets of Paris as well as outdated fashions — dresses and other garments that bore the hallmarks of pre-1930s fashion design, for example — he cited a fantasy he had about being able to “stop time” so that the Second World War wouldn’t have taken place.

A humble man, Cortès refused interviews and preferred anonymity. He remarked that his oil paintings, pastels and watercolors should speak for themselves. Cortès was prolific — he painted the streets of Paris and its well-known landmarks as well as majestic landscapes, interiors, boats and scenes that unfolded at Parisian harbors. Ten years after his death in 1969, the city of Lagny — where Cortès had spent most of his life — named a street in his honor.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of original Édouard Leon Cortès paintings.