Le Buste

Henri Le Sidaner prints bring the hush of a summer garden at dusk, a lamplit window or a moonlit canal into your home. Le Sidaner was a French intimist painter famous for scenes that imply people without showing them: an empty table under the roses, a lit doorway, a quiet street. Our collection of fine art prints covers his Gerberoy gardens, his nocturnes of Bruges, Venice and Versailles, and his snow scenes.

About Henri Le Sidaner

Henri Eugène Augustin Le Sidaner was born on 7 August 1862 in Port Louis, Mauritius, to Breton parents. The family returned to France in 1872, and he grew up in Dunkirk, where he met his lifelong friend Eugène Chigot. A scholarship from the city took him to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1880, where he studied under Alexandre Cabanel, but after seeing Manet's last works at the Salon he left Cabanel's studio over artistic differences.

In 1883 he joined Chigot at Étaples on the Opal Coast, where they helped establish the artists' colony there. In 1898 he eloped to Bruges with Camille Navarre, whom he married. In Bruges he painted a series of nocturnes of the canals at dusk, and he held successful shows in Paris and Brussels in 1897 and 1898.

On the advice of the ceramist Auguste Delaherche he rented a neglected house at Gerberoy in Picardy, which he bought in 1904. There he created the gardens he would paint for over thirty years. He also spent winters in Chartres and Venice, painted at Villefranche-sur-Mer and Versailles, sat on the Carnegie Institute jury in Pittsburgh, and was given a whole room at the 1914 Venice Biennale. He died in Versailles on 16 July 1939.

Style and Subjects

Le Sidaner's style draws on Impressionism and on Manet, Monet and the Pointillists, but his mood is his own. He preferred soft, subdued colour, nuanced greys and opal tones, laid on with dappled, uneven brushstrokes that create atmosphere and mystery. His biographer Camille Mauclair called it "the art of silence".

After settling at Gerberoy he rarely painted figures, instead suggesting their presence through set tables, open doors and lit windows. He was a fine painter of nocturnes and of snow, and his gardens of roses and wisteria glow with soft evening light.

Famous Works

• The Blue Table (1885), Singer Laren. An early still life of a table in the open air.
• Returning of the Flock, Étaples (1889), Hiroshima Museum of Art. A rural scene from the Étaples artists' colony.
• The Table in the White Garden at Gerberoy (1900), Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent. A table set under the trees in his garden at dusk.
• The Rectory and the Church of Gerberoy (1903), Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. The village around his home.
• La Sérénade, Venise (1907). Venetian buildings and water at nightfall, from his stay in Venice.
• The House in Moonlight (1909). A house glowing softly under the moon, a classic nocturne.
• The Table in the Sun (1911), Nantes Museum of Arts. A garden table bright with sunlight.
• Steps of the Palace at Versailles (1925). Grand steps in the gardens of Versailles, where he had a home.

Decorating with Le Sidaner Prints

Le Sidaner's garden pictures, like Roses and Wisterias on the House, are perfect for a bedroom, sunroom or breakfast room, where their soft pinks, greens and creams create a calm, romantic feel. They suit both French country and modern interiors.

His moonlit nocturnes and canal scenes, such as Canal in Bruges, Winter, bring quiet atmosphere to a hallway, study or reading corner.

FAQ

What art movement was Henri Le Sidaner part of?

He is called an intimist painter. His work draws on Impressionism and Pointillism but does not fit easily into any one movement.

What is Gerberoy?

Gerberoy is a village in Picardy where Le Sidaner lived from 1904 and created gardens in the ruins of a medieval fortress. He painted them for over thirty years, and they are now open to the public, along with his studio.

Why are there no people in many of his paintings?

After moving to Gerberoy he rarely painted figures, preferring to suggest people through objects: a set table, an open door, a lit window.

Where can I see Le Sidaner's paintings?

His work is in the Musée d'Orsay, the National Gallery in London, the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others.

Related Artists

• Henri Martin: French painter of light and atmosphere of the same generation
• Alexandre Cabanel: his teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts
• Lucien Simon: French painter of the same circle around 1900
• Charles Cottet: French painter of the same generation