Saint-Delis – Blooming Tree

Henri Liénard de Saint-Delis

(1878 Hesdin – 1949 Honfleur)

BLOOMING TREE

Painted 1902

Oil on canvas

Signed and dated bottom right: H. de S. Delis 1902

Henri de Saint-Delis was friends with Othon Friesz since school and with Raoul Dufy, George Braque, and Johan Barthold Jongkind since his studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Art in Le Havre, all Normans like him. He followed Dufy to Paris for a year and became acquainted with Impressionism and Fauvism, but had to cut his stay short due to tuberculosis in 1905. For his recovery, he spent several years in Switzerland. In 1920, he returned to Normandy and settled in Honfleur. His Norman works, mainly coastal landscapes and harbor scenes, are characterized by strong colors and a sketchy drawing style, closely aligned with Fauvism. As he lived a very reclusive life and exhibited little, the public only became aware of his extensive interesting work in 1954 during the retrospective at the André Weil Gallery in Paris.

The loosely and confidently painted "Blooming Tree" follows in the tradition of Impressionism but is very colorful. One can sense the influence of Friesz, Dufy, and Braque, who approached Matisse and Fauvism starting in 1903. A great painting!