By Pierre Neveu
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Provence Lavender Fields with Farmhouse and Distant Hills French Landscape
Artist: Pierre Neveu (French b.1929)
Medium: Watercolour on artist paper, unframed
Size (H x W): 8.5 x 6.5 inches
Condition: Good overall, with light natural edge wear consistent with age.
Provenance: From the artist’s studio sale in France; all works by this artist in our collection originate from the artist’s estate.
Description: This luminous watercolor and gouache landscape by Pierre Neveu captures the quintessential beauty of Provence, featuring sweeping lavender fields, warm ochre farm buildings, and rolling blue-green hills under a glowing southern sky. Neveu’s ability to express the colours, textures, and atmosphere of the French countryside is fully evident here, making this an ideal work for collectors seeking an evocative Post-Impressionist interpretation of Provence’s most iconic landscape.
The foreground is dominated by the rich purple rows of blooming lavender, painted with loose, rhythmic brushstrokes that convey both movement and scent—those unmistakable fields that draw visitors from around the world each summer. A sunlit farmhouse complex sits beyond the lavender, its tiled roofs and stone walls glowing in warm yellows, browns, and soft creams. The mid-ground transitions into layered greens of vineyards, orchards, and cypresses, characteristic of the Luberon and Vaucluse regions. Above, the composition rises into deep blue and indigo mountain ranges, their tonal shifts suggesting atmospheric heat and great distance.
Neveu’s use of gouache adds solidity to architectural details while maintaining the translucency and fluidity of watercolor in the sky and foliage. His sketchlike graphite lines remain visible beneath the paint, giving the work an immediacy reminiscent of plein-air studies done on location in rural Provence.
Perfect for collectors of French landscapes, lavender field paintings...
Category
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Art
