Louis Pastour

French Post Impressionist Oil on Panel, Bouquet of Zinnias

1916

Louis Pastour was called the “The Painter of the Sun” (Le Peintre du Soleil) for his colorful and bright palette. Pastour was a member of the post-impressionist movement though he had his own unique technique where he painted with a palette knife since his family struggled financially. At the age of 13, he began working as a journeyman painter and at age18, he moved to Paris where, while working during the day, he attended evening classes at the "Ecole des Arts Decoratifs." Because money was so tight, to save his brush, he began painting with the palette knife. This technique suited him perfectly. At that time, no theoretical method existed for that type of painting. Throughout his entire life, starting from a very young age, Pastour expressed his passion to paint and set his feelings about the beauty of nature and the landscape with the abundant, bright sunlight of his beloved Cannes through the expression of the boldest colors. Though he was able to travel through Northern Africa and Italy, ultimately though, it was in Cannes that he always returned because the city remained his main source of inspiration. As his artistic influence grew, Pastour began to hold exhibitions within the prestigious art galleries in Cannes. By the 1940s these exhibitions became permanent. Louis Pastour used the knife to breathe life into his works, a painter of the sun with total mastery of colors. He would observe the light and seem to capture it. Aggressive in the execution, he created dazzling skies where the bright whites, the raw yellows, the vermilions work together magnificently. His works can be found at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, Centre Pompidou, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nice and the National Art Museum of Romania in Bucharest, as well as numerous other prestigious international institutions.