Author: Arsène Alexandre and John La Farge

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ISBN: 978-1-68325-671-7

Arsène Alexandre and John La Farge

 

 

 

 

Pierre Puvis

de

Chavannes

(1824-1898)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Simplicity means an untrammelled idea. The simplest conception will be found to be the most beautiful.“

— Puvis de Chavannes

Contents

Biography

Life and Work by Arsène Alexandre

Reflections on his Work by John La Farge

List of Illustrations

Biography

1824: Pierre Cécile Puvis de Chavannes was born on 14 December in Lyon. His father was a mining engineer and wanted his son to join the École Polytechnique. Puvis de Chavannes attended secondary school at the Saint-Rambert college, Lyon.

1841-1842: He arrives in Paris and begins studying Philosophy and Rhetoric at the Lycee Henri IV.

1843: He prepares for the entrance exam for the École Polytechnique, but his health forces him to abandon his studies.

1846: He travels to Italy for the first time.

1847: He begins to study painting in the studio of Henry Scheffer.

1848: Second trip to Italy. He studies briefly in the studio of Eugène Delacroix.

1849: He studies for a short time in the studio of Thomas Couture.

1850: He exhibits his first work at the Salon: Pietà.

1851-1858: During this period the Salon rejects all of Puvis de Chavannes’ work.

1852: He begins work in his studio in the Place Pigalle.

1856: He meets Marie Cantacuzène in the studio of the painter Chassériau. They become friends and will marry forty years later.

1859: He exhibits Return from the Hunt at the Salon. He begins to receive attention from critics.

1861: His paintings War and Peace are a success. War is bought by the French state and Puvis offers them the Peace free of charge.

1863: He exhibits Work and Rest at the Salon. The paintings complete the series begun some years earlier. The city of Amiens purchases two of the paintings.

1867: His painting Sleep is exhibited at the Salon. He is commissioned to decorate the Palais Longchamp in Marseille. After this work he creates many large murals for other public buildings in France.

1868: He moves into a second studio in Neuilly.

1869-1884: He successfully exhibits many works at the Salon: Massilia, Greek Colony; Marseille, Gateway to the Orient; Charles Martel, Conqueror of the Saracens; St Genevieve as a Child in Prayer; The Prodigal Son; The Poor Fisherman; Ludus Pro Patria; The Toilette; The Sacred Wood Dear to the Arts and Muses, etc.

1877: Inauguration of the wall decorations made for the Pantheon. He is appointed an Officer of the Legion of Honour.

1887: He exhibits thirteen paintings at the National Academy of Design in New York. A solo exhibition is organised by Durand-Ruel in Paris.

1890: He joins with Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, Carolus-Duran, Félix Bracquemond, Jules Dalou, and Auguste Rodin to reform the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

1893: Having being asked for two years, Puvis de Chavannes accepts the commission to decorate the Boston library.

1894: Solo exhibitions organised by Durand-Ruel in New York then in Paris. 

1897: He marries Princess Marie Cantacuzène.

1898: Puvis de Chavannes dies on 24 October at the age of seventy-four, just months after the death of his wife, and without having had time to complete his final composition for the walls of the Pantheon.