Le Sidane, Henry

The artist was born in the family of the captain of the ship ^[1] . After the end of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, the Le Sidane family returned to France and lived in Dunkirk . Here, Henri takes his first drawing lessons from the local artist Alexander Desmit. With his support, Le Sidane, who arrived in Paris in 1880, in 1882 entered the Paris School of Fine Arts , in the class of the artist Alexander Cabanel ^[1] . In 1882-1887 he lives in Etaples (Pas de Calais).

Cabanel helped his student to obtain permission to display his works at the annual exhibition in the Paris Salon , and in 1887, an exhibition of paintings by Le Cidane at the Salon of French Artists. Soon Le Sidane, who managed to cater to the discerning taste of the Parisian public, achieved fame as a painter, his paintings are willingly bought. His works are exhibited regularly in Parisian salons at the end of the 19th century, in the Paris gallery Henri Petit, in the Goupil Galleries in London. Le Sidane travels a lot. He visits both the world metropolises - New York, London, Rome, Venice - and the picturesque corners of France, where he makes numerous studies (the coast of Normandy, Brittany, the Pyrenees). In the years 1898-1899 Le Sidane lives and works in Bruges . Upon returning to his homeland, he settles in Versailles . He also spent a lot of time on Oise, in the town of Gerberois , where he bought a house and painted his paintings.

During his life he regularly exhibited in the Salon of Paris and in galleries in London. His works are written in the style of impressionism and neo-impressionism, although he began as a realist. During the 1890s, his painting was closer to symbolism and pointillism . Many art critics distinguish his style in a special one, thanks to his unique personal vision of light and color. His paintings are characterized by a soft, muffled, somewhat mysterious atmosphere; they are intelligent in content and imbued with the spirit of memories and nostalgia. In many ways, the work of Le Sidane is close to intimism ^[1] . His art, rich in nuances, is true to the aesthetics of symbolism: he seeks not only to portray nature, but tries to spiritualize it, giving it a characteristic symbolist atmosphere of gentle sadness. His painting is primarily intellectual: memory transforms immediate impressions, surrounding them with mystery. He is a genuine “painter of the soul”: his girls in white, as if enchanted by a bell ringing, are “a host of foggy visions, snow maidens with naive eyes wide open in life,” writes Gabriel Mure. ^[2]

Le Cidane’s later paintings - landscapes without a single living soul: gardens, monasteries, deserted streets - leave a feeling of calm and concentration. During his lifetime, Le Sidane received the nickname " Meterlink of painting."

• Marcel Proust enthusiastically responded about his work. In the fourth volume of his epic “ In Search of Lost Time ” ( Sodom and Gomorrah ), one of the novel’s heroes, a collector, spends huge sums of money on the purchase of Le Sidane's paintings.

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  White garden

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  In the moonlight (1910)

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  Small evening feast (1921)

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  Windows (1910)

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  Barca on the canal (1900)

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  Table at Pierre's Gerberua

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  Sunday (1898)

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  In the evening (1920)

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  The White Houses in Kimperle (1909)

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  Etaple. Moonlight (1891)

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  At the Cathedral (1913)

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  Villefranche-sur-Mer. The road to the cathedral (1928)

• Ingrid Mössinger (comp.): Henri Le Sidaner. Ein magischer Impressionist . Deutscher Kunstverlag, München 2009, ISBN 978-3-422-02213-3 (Katalog der gleichnamigen Ausstellung, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz 2009).
• Henri Le Sidaner. 1862-1939 . Musée Marmottan, Paris 1989 (Katalog der gleichnamigen Ausstellung, 2. Mai bis 15. Juli 1989).
• Henri Le Sidaner et la Bretagne. 1862-1939 . Musée de Pont-Aven, Pont-Aven 2002, ISBN 2-910128-27-X (Katalog der gleichnamigen Ausstellung, 29. Juni bis 30. September 2002).

• Site dedicated to the artist (Fr.) . Date of treatment October 27, 2015.
• Gardens of Henri Le Sidane (fr.) . Date of treatment October 27, 2015.