French painters are Puzzle Arte’s favorites. From Degas to Cezanne , dozens of works by the most celebrated artists decorate our homes in the form of puzzles. It’s one of the many ways to enliven artistic sentiments, but also to make art accessible to everyone. Through the French painters featured and selected by Puzzle Arte, a historical and emotional journey is made possible.
French artistic production is celebrated starting from the ” French family of painters .” These were three brothers who opened an art studio in Paris in 130. Although the works can be attributed to each of the members, the signatures found only include their last names.
Antoine, Louis, and Mathieu formed a true triad that represented the influences of each. The first, Antoine, is described as a miner and a creator of bambocciate. He is believed to have been more influenced by his brother Louis. The works attributed to him actually show influences from Dutch painting.
“Family Reunion” and “Portrait in an Interior,” both exhibited at the Louvre. Here, one can detect hints of Velázquez in the effects produced by the color of the brushstrokes. In fact, Louis is the brother credited with a trip to Rome. In this city, he came into contact with the Caravaggists and the Bamboccianti. He also frequented official academic circles, as evidenced by his mythological and religious works. Among other celebrated and renowned French painters , Louis and Antoine founded the Paris Academy in 1648. Louis’s fame, however, is not due to his religious and mythological compositions. Rather, it is linked to his paintings depicting the peasant world.
The aim was to capture the social criticism already expressed by other artists, of the poverty and pride of the peasant world. The essential elements shine through in these works. Among the best-known are “The Haywain” and “Peasants’ Meal,” exhibited at the Louvre, and “The Milkmaid’s Family,” exhibited at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The family of French painters concludes with the last of the brothers, Mathieu, who is noted for his collaborations with his brother Louis on mythological works. He returned to the theme of the countryside after Louis’s death, and “The Gathering of Amateur Musicians,” exhibited at the Louvre in Paris, is attributed to him.
The list of French painters celebrated by Puzzle Arte includes Degas , Gauguin , La Fontaine , Matisse , Monet , Renoir , and Cezanne. 19th-century French painting was celebrated worldwide and remains an important artistic reference today. The artworks produced are considered an extension of Romanticism. Literature and art merged into a single cultural manifesto and gave rise to unprecedented masterpieces. However, unlike literature, art continued to manifest the influence of Neoclassicism. The revolutionary movement of Impressionism overturned the artistic canons of the time. The most representative French painters of the 19th century are well represented in the top five proposed by Puzzle Arte.
Edgar Degas focused on ballerinas, cafés, and the daily life of Paris. His art was not simply a portraiture that employed new pictorial techniques. Thanks to the influence of other artists, he also began to portray humble people, such as ironers and milliners. In this way, his art became a tool for psychological investigation. His impressionism was imbued with realism. His works reveal a preference for the female form, but also for other arts such as dance. Half of his oeuvre, including paintings and sculptures, is dedicated to ballerinas.
Paul Cézanne is the symbol of consciousness expressed on canvas. He is actually counted among the Post-Impressionists. But his art brought the artistic movement to prominence. He defined himself as a neo-classicist, with an avant-garde twist. He did not seek to imitate the past, but to recreate the world in his own consciousness. Thus, within this framework, perception became fundamental, and painting served as a literary narrative.
Monet discovered a love for plein air painting. A love that would characterize all his art and make his works famous. He is called the father of Impressionism because his 1874 painting “Impression” sparked the movement. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, on the other hand, is considered the specialist in the play of light and shadow. He favored nudes and young people at parties. His model for nudes was his wife, and his depictions of the female body established him as a master of artistic eroticism. In his depictions of parties, however, the artist best captured the interplay of light and shadow generated by the playful context.
Among the most celebrated French painters of the 19th century is Paul Gauguin . It’s no coincidence that he completes the top five selected by Puzzle Arte. Although he trained at the heart of French Impressionism, he represents its transcendence. He paved the way for a new artistic era that developed in the 20th century. Raised in a liberal and somewhat libertine family, he lost his father at an early age. His childhood was marked by travels between France and Peru. He joined the navy and began painting as a self-taught artist at the age of 23.
His constant travels are well represented in his works. He even married a Danish woman, whom he followed to Copenhagen, only to return to France shortly thereafter. Gauguin adhered to Impressionism, but only briefly. His encounter with Vincent Van Gogh in Central America was enlightening. The influence of the young Dutch artist pushed him to experiment with nine forms and to neglect his studies of light. He was a precursor of the Fauves, so much so that he abandoned perspective and distanced himself from France and Europe.
