Henri Lebasque is the painter of his generation who will be closest to the Impressionists. Born in 1865, he first studied at the Beaux-Arts in Angers. In 1886, he went to Paris where he first frequented the studio of Léon Bonnat, grand master of academism and famous portrait painter of the time.
Influenced by Camille Pissarro, he passionately admired Paul Cézanne as well as the banker Camondo's collection, of which he observed at length the Manets, Degas, Jongkind and Monet that Camondo would later bequeath to the Louvre.
His painting, of Impressionist style until around 1905, then approaches Fauvism with a more frank color palette, a broader style. He assumes a good proximity with Maximilien Luce or Paul Signac.
His art is sometimes similar to that of Pierre Bonnard with its warm and luminous touches.
Guillaume Apollinaire, speaking of the 20th Salon national des Beaux-Arts, writes: "Henri Lebasque's exhibition, luminous and harmonious, must be placed above par... the sensitivity of the artist merges with the light which 'inspires him."
His painting of women resting among olive trees in Cannes, painted in 1916, is reminiscent of Vincent Van Gogh's canvas, painted 27 years earlier, in the use of deep green and blue tones. Serenity for Lebasque, turmoil for Vincent.
Henri Lebasque settled in Le Cannet, near Cannes, in 1924, where his life ended in 1937.
In his art history lectures, Fabrice Roy combines the past with the present, in a poetic and playful evocation of the French 19th century...