Henri-Martin room

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1^st half of the 20^th century

Oil on canvas

57 x 99 cm

Private collection

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

First half of the 20^th century

Oil on canvas

73 x 88 cm

Private collection

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1913

Oil on canvas

101.5 x 57.5 cm

At the ‘Salon des Artistes Français’ (Salon of French Artists) in 1914, Henri Martin exhibited ‘Dans la lumière’ (In the Light), of which this painting was a preparatory study. The final work, entitled ‘Les Amoureux’ (The Lovers), represents a couple facing each other, hand in hand, dressed completely in white. The young man is undoubtedly Jacques, the painter’s youngest son, who often posed for his father and went on to become a painter himself.

This luminous study, donated by the artist to the ‘Musée de Cahors’ (Cahors Museum) in the twilight of his life, can only be understood in conjunction with the overall project to which it belongs. A photographic reproduction of the painting ‘Les Amoureux’ (The Lovers), conserved in a private collection, has, therefore, been made and placed on the wall below the preparatory study to give an idea of the final result that Henri Martin was working on.

Please do not handle this fragile device. [pictogram ‘do not touch’]

Donation: H. Martin, 1942

Restored in 2020 with the help of the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Aid Fund).

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943) or Henri MARTIN’s entourage

Oil on cardboard

57.5 x 38 cm

The attribution of this painting to Henri Martin has not yet been fully established. In fact, if we compare it with a panel painting of an identical subject that was auctioned in 2002, the execution is looser and less lively. In addition, examination under ultraviolet light suggests that the painting was executed in two stages. It could, therefore, be a work left unfinished by Henri Martin and then taken over by someone close to him.

Donation: Georges and Odile Girault, 2021

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1912

Oil on canvas

57 x 75 cm

On loan from the ‘Musée d’Orsay’ (Orsay Museum), 2022

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

After 1900

Oil on canvas

45 x 62.5 cm

In the late 1890s, Henri Martin, who had spent several summers in the Tarn region, discovered the landscapes of the Lot at the same time as the very dense morning fog on the Causses – limestone plateaux. During this period, while he was painting outdoors the rural landscapes before him, he experimented with the effects of light, the backlighting, and the twilight. He explored the limits of his technique using divided brushstrokes that he had been refining for over ten years.

The painting is composed of a multitude of small coloured dots placed side by side or one above the other. The bell tower of Labastide-du-Vert, with its dark roof, stands out, surrounded by a few houses. Slender cypress trees separate a green meadow from the Vert. The causse (limestone plateau) provides the perspective: the painter has set up his easel on high ground and drawn the village below. The upper third of the painting is filled with a misty, opaque sky, composed of dots that grow progressively apart (lighter) as they approach the centre.

This landscape of Labastide-du-Vert is surprising amongst his other works. The brushwork and colours—all in dots and in juxtapositions—seem to blend rather than complement each other. The overall effect gives a misty atmosphere, one that is particularly blurred and vague. You have to step back for the painting to become legible. Even more surprising is that if you step closer and move a few steps to the left, the landscape is just as legible. Henri Martin used for this painting the technique of anamorphosis; he used a tilted mirror to reproduce what he saw.

Donated by A. de Monzie 1922

Restored with help from the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Assistance Fund), 2020

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Circa 1925

Oil on Canvas

109 x 205 cm

The village of Labastide-du-Vert, where he spent every summer for a little over forty years, gave Henri Martin his ‘quiet strength’. From the window of his studio overlooking the valley, he is filled with wonder every morning at the sight of the village waking up. A very pale, almost white, and luminous sky controls the composition. In the background, the limestone plateaux in the distance grow increasingly mauve. The nearest hills are a mixture of brown, of orange, and of green. The village is separated from the horizon by a row of poplars, slender trees dear to Henri Martin. The houses are still shrouded in half-light. Their shadows and those of the trees stretch across the fields and vegetable gardens. Only a few tall or isolated facades catch the first rays of sunlight. Wispy plumes of smoke rise from some chimneys, a sign that the occupants are awake. Thick and white at first, these plumes of smoke lose their density as they rise. Le Vert, the stream that gives the village its name, appears in two places, a slender silvery-white ribbon lined with trees.

Donation of H. Martin, 1942

Restored with help from the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Assistance Fund), 2020

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Oil on canvas

125 x 70 cm

Henri Martin placed his easel on the right bank of the river, slightly upstream from the bridge.

He stepped back to get a clear view of the church. The tree in the foreground divides the canvas into equal parts. Its elongated trunk responds to the church steeple that reaches to the sky.

The atmosphere is peaceful, the human presence only perceptible by the light smoke rising from a house. It is early spring: we can just make out the first delicate green leaves on the branches of the tree. Henri Martin was particularly fond of this time of year, when the poplar buds were beginning to emerge, and was infuriated, in his own words, when he had to stay in Paris and was unable to witness this spectacle.

Donation: Georges and Odile Girault, 2022

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Oil on canvas

66 x 83 cm

Henri Martin likes to paint his village in all its seasons. Bright green abundant vegetation, fruit trees in flower, a river with turquoise waters: it is spring. All is treated with a vigorous brushstroke, and the houses seem to dissolve into the landscape. The artist then stabilises his composition by deploying the mass of the bridge and its almost uniform colour.

Donation: Pierre Girault, 2022

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Labastide-du-Vert, after 1900

102.5 x 118 cm

In the style of the Impressionists, Henri Martin created series. He painted the same locations several times at different times of day, throughout the seasons. Thus, this house also appears in ‘La Vieille Maison aux derniers rayons’ (The Old House in the Final Rays of Light), held at the ‘Musée des Beaux-Arts’ (Museum of Fine Arts) in Reims. This rustic theme undoubtedly also appealed to the middle-class clientele of the cities, who were delighted to give their apartments a little touch of the countryside. Henri Martin enjoyed representing the final hours of the day especially since this time of day sets the rhythm of life in the fields. He conveys representations of the Angelus, a prayer whose third call, at 7 p.m., marks for the farmers the end of their isolation, the return of the herds, and dinnertime.

Furthermore, the painter appreciates these peaceful moments bringing together people and animals.

Formerly in the Paul Riff Collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with help) from the ‘Fonds Régional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums’ Acquisition Fund), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Départemental du Lot – LOT Le Département’ (Departmental Council of the Lot – LOT The Department), and the ‘l’Opération Mécénat’ (Sponsorship Initiative), 2012

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Circa 1900

Oil on canvas

85.5 x 107 cm

This house in Labastide-du-Vert is the same one depicted in the painting ‘Goatherder in Front of an Old House in Labastide-du-Vert.’ Moreover, this is not the only similarity between these two works, they also feature an elderly person accompanied by livestock, here in the twilight hours of the day. This gives witness to the affection that Henri Martin holds for rural landscapes, for their inhabitants, and for the work of the land. It confirms that, as soon as he began painting rural landscapes, he embarked on a series, regularly returning to the same location at different times of day and at different seasons. The house, the central subject, is bathed in the golden light of the last rays of the sun. The elongated shadows of the neighbouring houses are cast against the walls and plunge the ground into half-light. The flock of sheep is depicted as an indistinct mass, whilst the colour of the fields and the greenery indicate that we are in summer.

On loan from the Reims Museum of Fine Arts, 2012

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Circa 1896-1900

Oil on canvas

85 x 104.7 cm

At the end of the 1890s, Henri Martin left the Tarn, where he had spent his summers for several years, for the Lot. He discovered the ‘Causses’ (Heaths) of the Lot. It was one of the first landscapes in the department to seduce him. He loved painting the arid moorland scattered with large slabs of rock and small areas of earth. The shepherds and their sheep who populate these landscapes, and for whom he held a fondness as for all small farmers’ work, became a recurring subject in his works.

Under a twilight sky, a stony, arid Causse stretches out. Only, on the left, are a few shrubs that grow on this moor. Here and there, patches of grass mixed with rocky outcrops stand out from the ground. The use of strokes of paint, side-by-side, give a more faithful rendering of the irregular ground of the heath. Not far from the trees, in shades of colour quite similar to that of the foliage, stands a shepherd dressed in a houppelande (smock) and wearing a hat. He is watching over a meagre group of four sheep and a lamb as they graze.

Former Paul Riff collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with the help of the ‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums Acquisition Fund), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Départemental du Lot et de l’Opération Mécénat’ (Departmental Council of the Lot and the Sponsorship Operation), 2012

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Around 1890-1900

Oil on canvas

69 x 56 cm

On the doorstep of their house, at the end of a working day, a couple is resting. The last rays of sunlight gild the foliage of the trees above the house. The man and woman are in the shadows, heads bowed. A certain form of melancholy emanates from this scene.

In the 1890s, Henri Martin spent his summers in the countryside’s of the departments of the Tarn and then the Lot. Gradually, symbolist subjects, the muses and the poets gave way to subjects that were more rooted in reality, in particular the daily lives of farmers. From 1900 onwards, working the land became one of the recurring subjects treated by Henri Martin in his large-scale decors.

Former Paul Riff Collection

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1894

Oil on canvas

61.5 x 46.5 cm

Here, Henri Martin illustrates a passage from the New Testament. Jesus is resting by a well and asks a Samaritan woman for a drink. He explains to her that his word is like living water: it quenches spiritual thirst and brings eternal salvation.

The depiction of the two protagonists is quite traditional: in a farmyard, Jesus stands facing the Samaritan woman. Both are in the shade of a fig tree, near the rim of a well. Dressed in a white tunic, his head adorned with a halo, Jesus raises his arm and speaks to the Samaritan woman. She listens attentively, her head slightly bowed. She is holding with both hands the jug with which she is going to draw water.

Former Paul Riff Collection

Acquired with the help of the FRAM (‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museum Acquisition Fund)), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Général du Lot’ (Lot Departmental Council) and ‘Opération Mécénat’ (Sponsorship Operation), 2012

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1894

Oil on canvas

52 x 64 cm

In the 1890s, along with his allegories and muses, Henri Martin also produced a number of works with religious themes, a subject he would later abandon almost entirely. These religious paintings are rarely represented in French museums, as they were more often bought, and perhaps even commissioned, by private collectors.

Saint Francis, dressed simply in a brown hooded robe, tied at the waist, stands alone in a deserted ‘Causse’ (heath) landscape. He is endowed with a fine halo and is holding his hands up to his face, in a position of prayer. Pentimenti, parts of the painting that have been altered by the artist to change an element, show that the saint initially had his hands clasped in a gesture of supplication. The man’s whole body is raised upwards, as if he is trying to ascend. He is facing a ray of sunlight, almost a luminous apparition, in which the contrast with the heavy robe is particularly strong.

It is possible to see in this Saint Francis, as if in conversation with the sun, a double of Henri Martin. The painter was, in fact, extremely sensitive to variations in light, and always took a great interest in them. He was already expressing his need to stay in touch with nature during his apprenticeship in Paris, when he missed the sun of the Midi (southern countryside), and its abundant light.

Former Paul Riff collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with the help of the ‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums Acquisition Fund), the ‘Fonds du

Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Départemental du Lot et de l’Opération Mécénat’ (Departmental Council of the Lot and the Sponsorship Operation), 2012

Restored in 2020 with the help of the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Aid Fund)

Henri BELLERY-DESFONTAINES (Paris, 1867 – Saint-Martin-aux-Buneaux, 1909)

1899

Oil on canvas

50.9 x 62 inches

The main activity of Henri Bellery-Desfontaines was illustration. However, he also practised cabinet-making as a hobby, and in particular made several frames for Henri Martin. The two men enjoyed a sincere friendship.

Donation: H. Martin, 1942

Restored in 2020 with the help of the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Aid Fund).

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Paris, 1883-1884

Oil on canvas

81 x 62.7 cm

In 1884, when he was still a pupil of Jean-Paul Laurens in Paris, Henri Martin exhibited several paintings and received his first awards. With the view of it being acquired by the State, he exhibited Cain, a monumental work, at the Salon, of which the painting, shown here, is a study.

The composition is academic, but it marks a turning point in the artist’s career. For the first time, he used small dots of paint to draw the angel, the beginnings of the dot-and-comma technique that would make his reputation. The head of the angel, where these coloured dots are located, is at a height of three metres, making it impossible to see them clearly. Henri Martin did not yet dare to flaunt this method and only used it at heights that made it imperceptible to the onlooker.

Former Jean Rivière collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with the help of the ‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums Acquisition Fund), 2004

Restored in 2020 with the help of the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Aid Fund).

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1879

Oil on canvas

65 x 55 cm

Long term loan by the ‘Institut supérieur des arts et du design de Toulouse’ (Public Institution of Higher Education of Toulouse), 2022

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1880

Oil on canvas

64.7 x 54.3 cm

Acquired with the help of the FRAM (‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museum Acquisition Fund)), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Général du Lot’ (Lot Departmental Council) and ‘Opération Mécénat’ (Sponsorship Operation), 2012

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1879

Oil on canvas

108 x 142 cmIt was with this painting that Henri Martin won 1^st prize at the end of the year at the Toulouse ‘École des Beaux-Arts’ (School of Fine Arts) in 1879.

Long term loan by the ‘Institut supérieur des arts et du design de Toulouse’ (Public Institution of Higher Education of Toulouse), 2022

Henri MARTIN

(Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Circa 1890–1900

Oil on canvas

71.8 x 100 cm

Meditation is a painting characteristic of the late 19^th century for Henri Martin. His technique of divided brushstrokes—combining dots, commas, and strokes of paint, was by then well established, despite criticism from his contemporaries. He no longer hesitates to juxtapose brushstrokes of a variety of colours.

It is a period in his career where he amuses himself with the play of light, practiced backlighting, without abandoning his love for portraits. The landscapes, particularly those of the South of France, start to take on an important role in his compositions, as if they were imposing themselves upon him. However, he persists in a romantic symbolism to which he still seems attached and which will take him several years to

the effects of light, the backlighting, and the twilight. He explored the limits of his technique using divided brushstrokes that he had been refining for over ten years.

The painting is composed of a multitude of small coloured dots placed side by side or one above the other. The bell tower of Labastide-du-Vert, with its dark roof, stands out, surrounded by a few houses. Slender cypress trees separate a green meadow from the Vert. The causse (limestone plateau) provides the perspective: the painter has set up his easel on high ground and drawn the village below. The upper third of the painting is filled with a misty, opaque sky, composed of dots that grow progressively apart (lighter) as they approach the centre.

This landscape of Labastide-du-Vert is surprising amongst his other works. The brushwork and colours—all in dots and in juxtapositions—seem to blend rather than complement each other. The overall effect gives a misty atmosphere, one that is particularly blurred and vague. You have to step back for the painting to become legible. Even more surprising is that if you step closer and move a few steps to the left, the landscape is just as legible. Henri Martin used for this painting the technique of anamorphosis; he used a tilted mirror to reproduce what he saw.

Donated by A. de Monzie 1922

Restored with help from the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Assistance Fund), 2020

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1894

Oil on canvas

25.8 x 19.4 inches

From 1889 onwards, Henri Martin dared to use the, almost, pointillist technique that characterised the rest of his career. Moreover, his many muses, sometimes ethereal, sometimes pensive, are an expression of his Symbolist period.

In this composition, the only light comes from the bottom of the garden. The touches of light beige and blue draw the viewer’s eye away from the muse. The female figure finds herself isolated, all the more so because she is composed of the same colours as the garden around her. She seems to merge with the vegetation, to become one with it. She evokes Daphne, the nymph who Apollo fell in love with, she was transformed into a laurel to escape him.

Former Paul Riff collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with the help of the ‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums Acquisition Fund), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Départemental du Lot et de l’Opération Mécénat’ (Departmental Council of the Lot and the Sponsorship Operation), 2012

Restored in 2020 with the help of the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Aid Fund)

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Oil on canvas

81 x 65 cm

The Vert is a small river that passes through the village of Labastide-du-Vert before flowing into the River Lot at Castelfranc. Henri Martin often depicts it when he paints the stone bridge that spans it.

Here, the artist is interested entirely by the river, the flow of the water and its direct environment. On the left bank, the land is cultivated as vegetable gardens, and on the right bank, meadows can be perceived. We recognise, also, the trees typical to this lower valley landscape: poplars with straight trunks and, almost in the centre of the canvas, a willow tree pruned using an ancient pruning technique known as ‘cat’s head’.

Donation: Pierre Girault, 2022

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Circa 1920

Oil on canvas

107.5 x 129 cm

One of the places where Henri Martin liked to set up his easel in Labastide-du-Vert was upstream from the bridge over the river. This spot allowed him to admire the two rounded arches and the few houses behind them. He did not always paint the Vert River, deep in its bed, preferring to highlight the bridge, because it was the work of men that he liked to represent.

In the foreground, a white goat is grazing in front of the bridge. The grassy strip is scattered with small dots of coloured paint, like flowers. The first arch of the bridge is barely visible, hidden by the high bank of the stream. The river itself is not painted; it is imagined. A few houses enliven the background and the Causse (Heath), fills most of the backdrop. The trees are starting to turn red and become bare, autumn is here. The Causse itself is brown and red. The only traces of human presence: the shutters on the windows are open and some washing is hanging out on a line on the far left.

Donation: H. Martin, 1942

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1^st half of the 20^th century

Oil on canvas

81 x 130 cm

Private collection

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1897

Oil on canvas

83.5 x 103 cm

Although Henri Martin parted company with the Rosicrucian’s, with whom he had, for a certain time, experimented with symbolism, he did not abandon the allegorical and dreamlike subjects. For him, this was an attempt to escape from reality, where he was sometimes harshly criticised. The symbolic subjects of his works reflected the difficulties of his daily life, where his financial worries as the father of 3 children hung heavily. It was only towards the end of this decade, after 1895, that a form of peace appeared with ‘Silence’ (1897), ‘Tristesse et Espérance’ ‘Sadness and Hope (1898) and ‘Sérénité’(Serenity) (1899). ‘Justice’ (Justice) is part of this change, between dark hours and better days.

This allegory takes up the symbols common to representations of Justice: scales, magistrate’s robes, tablets of law. But Henri Martin makes the allegory his own. His Justice is not strict and rigid. Nor is it blind; its eyes are wide open on the world. A certain serenity emerges, a form of benevolence.

Former Paul Riff collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with the help of the ‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums Acquisition Fund), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Départemental du Lot et de l’Opération Mécénat’ (Departmental Council of the Lot and the Sponsorship Operation), 2012

Restored in 2020 with the help of the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Aid Fund)

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1895

Oil on canvas

24.6 x 15.9 inches

The young woman seems concentrated, almost self-absorbed. Her blue eyes have no pupils, giving her a vague look. The oval shape of her face is accentuated by her arched eyebrows and the almond form shaped by her hair. Her complexion is rendered by a superimposition of small dots of different colours, whilst the rest of the painting is made up of thicker, less detailed lines or dots. The light comes from the left, delicately highlighting her shoulder, neck and her jaw. The background is thick foliage with brighter gaps at the bottom.

Henri Martin lets flowers speak for themselves more and more in his paintings, they become his favourite subjects. Nature, in this way, gradually penetrates his canvases. Depending on the theme, he prefers poppies that symbolise the powers of death, thistles for their spikes, lilies as an image of purity and virtue or, as here, pansies, symbols of love, affection and admiration.

The wooded background evokes summers spent in the Tarn, and then in the Lot.

Former Paul Riff collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with the help of the ‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums Acquisition Fund), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Départemental du Lot et de l’Opération Mécénat’ (Departmental Council of the Lot and the Sponsorship Operation), 2012

Restored in 2020 with the help of the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Aid Fund)

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1902

Oil on canvas

26.3 x 16.9 inches

This painting bears a dedication on the top right: ‘à Melle POPO, souvenir affectueux’ (to Miss POPO, affectionate souvenir). This young lady is Pauline Riff, the daughter of Paul-Louis Riff. Paul-Louis Riff was a magistrate, an art collector and particularly fond of Henri Martin’s paintings. Although little is known about the painter’s relationship with the collector, they were probably friends. Three other paintings by Henri Martin are dedicated, like this one, to Paul Riff himself or to a member of his family.

The portrait is surprising because of the position of the subject. The young woman is standing showing mostly her back, her face completely turned away from the viewer. She is a communicant, recognisable by her white dress and her veil, the traditional outfit for communion. The background, an acid yellow-green is dazzling, a far cry from the asphalt-darkened canvases characteristic of Henri Martin’s early career.

The technique, too, shows the painter’s evolution at this turn of the century. The background and the clothing are composed of juxtaposed commas of paint. The outfit is not uniformly white, but mixed with hints of blue, pink, mauve and green. In places, it blends with the yellow of the background, creating a blurred area around the young woman. This ‘Profil au Voile’ (Profile with Veil), is an opportunity for the artist to practise the contrasts between light and shadow.

Only the face, perfectly delineated by a line, reminds us that Henri Martin created his paintings from a solid drawing.

Former Paul Riff collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with the help of the ‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums Acquisition Fund), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Départemental du Lot et de l’Opération Mécénat’ (Departmental Council of the Lot and the Sponsorship Operation), 2012

Restored in 2020 with the help of the ‘Fonds Régional d’Aide à la Restauration’ (Regional Restoration Aid Fund)

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

Marquayrol, Labastide-du-Vert (Lot)

1900

Oil on canvas

65 x 81.5 cm

Whilst Henri Martin frequented the Rosicrucian’s and chose his subjects from amongst those recommended by the group, his relationship with the founder, Joséphin Péladan, deteriorated. The latter criticises the painter for combining real landscapes with idealised, allegorical or dreamlike figures. But this was not the only source of tension between them. Henri Martin was already using his own technique, close to Impressionism, making him, for some of his contemporaries, a renegade. Joséphin Péladan, probably referring to this painting, said: ‘The only thing idealistic about it is the subject, the process is ugly, treating allegory with pointillism!’

A young shepherd sits on a low wall, playing his flute as he watches over his flock. The flowers in the shrub indicate spring. Above him fly three muses dressed in white and crowned with flowers. One of them is holding a lyre. The landscape in the background, at first a soft green, then turns to an orangey pink. The golden light evokes the last rays of the sun, as confirmed by the bluish shadows stretching between the foreground and the background. The muses and the shepherd are bathed in light.

The muses inspire musicians. They are perhaps no more than an apparition of the young shepherd who is playing his flute. They are, therefore, the symbol of his musical inspiration. The golden light that encircles, in the same way these four figures, creates a relationship between them, as well as the shepherd’s gaze focused on the muses.

Former Paul Riff collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with the help of the ‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums Acquisition Fund), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Départemental du Lot et de l’Opération Mécénat’ (Departmental Council of the Lot and the Sponsorship Operation), 2012

Henri MARTIN (Toulouse, 1860 – Labastide-du-Vert, 1943)

1900

Oil on canvas

127.8 x 100 cm

In the 1890s, Henri Martin often stayed at the home of his friend Jean Jaurès, in the middle of a pine forest that clearly inspired him.

A young woman seems to be blending into the forest that surrounds her. Her gaze is vague, absorbed in her thoughts and abandoned, her body follows the line of the trees, and they themselves are leaning under her pressure. An osmosis is created between the human and the landscape. The young woman does not take her place in a forest in autumn; she is the incarnation of that season: both shimmering and melancholic at the same time.

Between the branches and leaves, the blue sky can be seen at the very top of the painting. The ground, between green and orange, seems to be strewn with pine needles. The brushstrokes, elongated in the same movement for the ground and the dress, give the impression of a single movement blending them together.

Former Jean Rivière collection, acquired by the City of Cahors with the help of the ‘Fonds Regional d’Acquisition des Musées’ (Regional Museums Acquisition Fund), the ‘Fonds du Patrimoine’ (Heritage Fund), the ‘Conseil Départemental du Lot et de l’Opération Mécénat’ (Departmental Council of the Lot and the Sponsorship Operation), 2012