Georges Rouault (1871-1958)
An artist independent of contemporary avant-garde movements, apart from his affiliation with Fauvism, Georges Rouault’s work is profoundly humanist, with man’s struggle with destiny at its core. He tirelessly painted clowns, judges, litigants, girls and painful Christs, translating the sadness of the soul with luminous colors contained within broad black lines.
Works of art by the artist Henri Matisse
Studio Lipnitzki / Roger-Viollet
Biography of artist Henri Matisse
Georges Rouault was born on May 27, 1871, at the end of the bloody week of the Paris Commune. He learns the trade of glass painter in 1885 with Tamoni. From the summer onwards, he also attended evening classes at the École des Arts Décoratifs. The following year, he worked for the stained-glass restorer Hirsch. He passed the entrance exam for the École des Beaux-Arts in 1890, and joined the studio of painter Elie Delaunay in early December. When Delaunay died in early September 1891, his friend Gustave Moreau took over – the other studio heads at the time were Léon Bonnat and Jean-Léon Gérôme. A strong relationship developed between Gustave Moreau and the young Rouault, who in July 1894 was awarded the Prix Chenavard for L’Enfant Jésus parmi les docteurs, 1894 (Musée Unterlinden, Colmar).
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