Seyssaud – Carnations in a Green Vase

René Seyssaud
(1867 Marseille – 1952 Saint-Chamas)

CARNATIONS IN A GREEN VASE

Oil on canvas, 41 x 33 cm
Signed lower right: Seyssaud

Provenance:
Collection Georges Couturat (1890-1948)

René Seyssaud, painter and poet from Provence and one of the most interesting artists of Post-Impressionism, is still an insider tip. 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 Indépendants group in Paris in 1885, Paul Guigou, art writer and critic, took notice of him and became his patron. The public’s reaction, on the other hand, was initially mixed, but this did not bother him: ‘The pictures I exhibit are considered terrible by some and very beautiful by others; that means success. Only mediocre works disturb and inspire no one’ (letter to his mother in 1887). And he was certainly not mediocre! He must have received confirmation of his artistic path by 1892 at the latest in the Vincent van Gogh exhibition at the Galerie Le Barc de Boutteville in Paris, as van Gogh painted bouquets of flowers and Provençal landscapes in a style comparable to his own: emotional, individual, powerful, colourful and impasto. In 1897, Le Barc de Boutteville organised Seyssaud’s first solo exhibition. His second took place at Vollard in 1899, and his third two years later at Bernheim-Jeune. In the 1920s, Druet and Rosenberg joined them. The fact that the most important gallery owners of the modern era were interested 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 of him and made purchases.
In 1903, Seyssaud took part in the newly founded Salon d’Automne, where Fauvism began to take shape. He had paved the way for this style through his painting, but did not join the Fauvist group, as his independence was paramount to him throughout his life. His heart beat for Provence, which he painted tirelessly, a passion that connected him to Paul Cézanne, whose work he admired most, alongside that of Vincent van Gogh. Because he kept his distance from Parisian art circles, he was denied international recognition. In France, he is considered one of the great artists. For the rest of the world, he is a magnificent and rewarding rediscovery.
In his virtuoso still lifes, he applied the paint powerfully and impastoed, bringing the flowers to life artistically. ‘Carnations in a Green Vase’ may be small in format, but they are huge and powerful in their effect and charisma.