L’oise En Hiver

Gustave Loiseau prints bring the French countryside into your home in bright, textured color. A Post-Impressionist who learned his craft among Gauguin's circle at Pont-Aven, Loiseau spent his life painting outdoors: apple orchards in blossom, frosty river banks, Breton harbors, Normandy cliffs and the busy streets of Paris. Our collection gathers more than 100 of his landscapes, town views and still lifes as fine art prints.

About Gustave Loiseau

Gustave Loiseau was born in Paris on 3 October 1865 and grew up in Paris and Pontoise, where his parents ran a butcher's shop. He first trained as a decorator. In 1887 he enrolled at the École des arts décoratifs to study life drawing, but left about a year later and asked the landscape painter Fernand Quignon to teach him instead.

On Quignon's advice, from 1890 he spent his summers in Pont-Aven in Brittany. He stayed at the Pension Gloanec with the painters Maxime Maufra, Henry Moret and Émile Bernard, and Paul Gauguin gave him advice. In 1894 he signed with the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, who showed his paintings in Paris and New York and helped make his name.

From 1904 until his death Loiseau lived in Pontoise, where his studio still stands. He traveled constantly to paint: the Eure valley in Normandy, the coast at Dieppe, Étretat and Fécamp, Brittany, Moret-sur-Loing, and the streets of Paris. He died in Paris on 10 October 1935 and is buried in Pontoise.

Style and Subjects

Loiseau painted landscapes directly from nature. After a short spell with the dots of Pointillism, he found his own technique, often described as "en treillis": short strokes laid over each other in a cross-hatched lattice, which gives his surfaces a woven, shimmering texture.

Like Monet, he returned to the same places in different seasons and weather, so the same river bend or village street appears under snow, frost, spring blossom and autumn color. Besides the countryside he painted harbors, cliffs and churches, Paris squares and boulevards, and from the 1920s colorful still lifes of oysters, fruit and fish.

Famous Works

• Les Roches vertes (1893), Petit Palais, Geneva. An early Breton coastal scene from his Pont-Aven years.
• La Pointe du Jars au Cap Fréhel (1905), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes. The rocky headlands of the north Brittany coast.
• L'Eure en hiver, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. The river Eure in Normandy in winter, one of his favorite subjects.
• Le Pont suspendu à Triel (1917), Musée Lambinet, Versailles. A suspension bridge over the Seine west of Paris.
• Place de la Bastille (1922), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The busy Paris square, painted in his late, lively style.
• Le 14 juillet sur la rue de Clignancourt (about 1925), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. A Paris street decked out for Bastille Day.

Decorating with Loiseau Prints

Loiseau's orchards in blossom and summer river banks are fresh and cheerful, a good fit for kitchens, breakfast nooks and bedrooms. His snow and frost scenes, in soft whites, blues and pinks, make calm winter pictures for living rooms and hallways.

The harbors of Dieppe and Fécamp and the cliffs of Normandy and Brittany suit coastal homes and bathrooms, while his Paris street views bring energy to an office or entryway. For a dining room, try one of his late still lifes of oysters and lemons or fish.

Frequently Asked Questions

What art movement was Gustave Loiseau part of?

Loiseau was a French Post-Impressionist. He worked alongside the Pont-Aven painters around Gauguin in the 1890s, but his own work stayed closer to Impressionism, painted outdoors in bright, broken color.

What is the "en treillis" technique?

It is the name given to Loiseau's way of painting in short, criss-crossing strokes, like a lattice. Layered over each other, they give his landscapes a woven texture that catches the light.

Where did Gustave Loiseau paint?

Mostly in northern France: Pontoise, where he lived from 1904, the Eure valley in Normandy, the coast at Dieppe, Étretat and Fécamp, Pont-Aven in Brittany, and the streets of Paris.

Where can I see Gustave Loiseau's original paintings?

His work is in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rennes and Rouen, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid and the Château-Musée in Dieppe, among others.

Who was Gustave Loiseau's dealer?

Paul Durand-Ruel, the dealer who championed the Impressionists, signed him in 1894 and showed his paintings in Paris and New York.

Related Artists

• Paul Gauguin, who gave him advice at Pont-Aven
• Émile Bernard, a fellow painter at the Pension Gloanec in Pont-Aven
• Claude Monet, whose painting of one scene in many seasons Loiseau's work recalls
• Camille Pissarro, Impressionist painter of Pontoise, Loiseau's home town
• Henry Moret, a fellow painter at the Pension Gloanec in Pont-Aven
• Maxime Maufra, a fellow painter at the Pension Gloanec in Pont-Aven