Louis Valtat

Louis Valtat (; 8 August 1869 – 2 January 1952) was a French painter and printmaker associated with the Fauves ("the wild beasts", so named for their wild use of color), who first exhibited together in 1905 at the Salon d'Automne. He is noted as a key figure in the stylistic transition in painting from Monet to Matisse.

Life and work Louis Valtat was born on 8 August 1869 in Dieppe, Valtat subsequently studied at the Académie Julian (Julian Academy) Another friend of Valtat was Paul Signac, whom he visited often, traveling in a small Bollée motorcar that he acquired ca. 1904 from Signac in exchange for his painting Women at the Seashore. During his time spent near the Mediterranean, Valtat intensified his use of color and began to express his Fauvist tendencies, particularly in painting seascapes. Art historian Natalie Henderson Lee identifies Valtat as a "proto-Fauve", although he remained somewhat apart from the Fauve group, and never adopted their extreme boldness in the treatment of form and color.

After 1914 he worked in Paris and in areas near Rouen and Versailles. The subjects of his paintings included flowers, landscapes, and scenes of contemporary life, and he produced many prints. Valtat continued to paint until 1948, when the glaucoma from which he had suffered for several years resulted in the loss of his sight. He died on 2 January 1952 in Paris.

Selected works

The following are some paintings by Louis Valtat: Composition avec trois vases (Composition with Three Vases) La Dentelliere, c. 1906, oil on canvas Les Rochers Rouges dans la Mer (Red Rocks by the Sea), circa 1903 Péniches (Barges), 1892 Pommiers (The Apple Trees), 1894 Sur Le Boulevard (On The Boulevard), 1893 Vase Tulipe et Violettes (Tulips and Violets), 1925 Voilieres au Port à Ouistrehamm (Ouistrehamm), ca. 1930 Stil life With Apples, Norton Art Museum, West Palm Beach, Florida