Seyssaud – Carnations in Green Vase

René Seyssaud

(1867 Marseille – 1952 Saint-Chamas)

CARNATIONS IN GREEN VASE

Oil on canvas, 41 x 33 cm

Signed lower right: Seyssaud

Provenance:

Collection Georges Couturat (1890-1948)

René Seyssaud, painter and poet of Provence and one of the most interesting artists of Post-Impressionism, remains a hidden gem. He received his artistic training between 1879 and 1895 at the Écoles des Beaux-Arts in Marseille and Avignon. When he first exhibited with the group of Independents in Paris in 1885, Paul Guigou, art writer and critic, took notice of him and became his patron. The audience's reactions were initially mixed, but this did not deter him: "The paintings I exhibit are found terrible by some and very beautiful by others; that means success. Only the mediocre disturb and excite no one" (Letter to mother 1887). And he was certainly not mediocre! The confirmation of his artistic path likely came in 1892 at the Vincent van Gogh exhibition at the Galerie Le Barc de Boutteville in Paris, as van Gogh painted bouquets and Provençal landscapes in a style comparable to his own, emotional, individual, powerful, color-intensive, and pastose. In 1897, Le Barc de Boutteville organized Seyssaud's first solo exhibition. His second took place in 1899 at Vollard, and the third two years later at Bernheim-Jeune. In the 1920s, Druet and Rosenberg joined in. The interest of the most important modern galleries in him is a clear indication of his talent and the uniqueness of his painting. He was represented internationally, and the French state also took notice and made purchases. In 1903, Seyssaud participated in the newly founded Salon d’Automne, where Fauvism began to take shape. He had prepared for this style through his painting but did not join the group of Fauves, as his independence was paramount to him throughout his life. His heart belonged to Provence, which he painted tirelessly, a passion that connected him with Paul Cézanne, whose work he admired alongside that of Vincent van Gogh. Because he stayed away from Parisian art circles, he missed out on international breakthrough. In France, he is considered one of the great artists. For the rest of the world, he is a grand and worthwhile rediscovery.

In his virtuosic still lifes, he applied the paint powerfully and pastose, bringing the flowers to life artistically. "Carnations in Green Vase" may be small in format, but they are immense and powerful in effect and presence.