Gillet – La pêcheuse de poulpe

Numa François Gillet

LA PÊCHEUSE DE POULPE (The Octopus Fisherwoman)

Oil on canvas
50 x 61 cm
Signed and dedicated lower right: Numa Gillet, ‘A mon ami Jules Ricome’

Numa François Gillet was a French painter, architect and ceramist whose work is classified as Symbolism. The artist trained in the studios of Tony Robert-Fleury and William Bouguereau in Paris. From 1890 to 1936, he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français, the Salon d’Automne and with the Société des Artistes Indépendants. In 1900, he was represented at the Paris World’s Fair. Several of his works were purchased by the French state and can be found in the Musée du Petit Palais in Paris and the Musée d’Autun, among others.
Gillet’s ‘Kraken Fisherwoman’ is less compelling for its curious theme, which could be borrowed from a myth or legend, than for its unusual, magical and beautiful painting. Surprisingly, the female figure in the foreground acts in the shadows. Is she a woman, a Nereid or a mermaid? In any case, she is woven into the surrounding nature with fine threads of colour. The kraken is only visible at second glance. Instead, the sun-drenched ocean with its striking rocks immediately catches the eye. The strange yellow spray suggests that something magical is happening here, rather than something quite normal. If you imagine the female figure and the octopus away, the painting would pass as a particularly wild, impressionistic work. By combining both areas, Gillet has created an extraordinary work that remains in the memory.