PARIS, FRANCE.- Mus閑 Marmottan Monet presents a retrospective on Paul Guigou. Designed by the mus閑 des Beaux-arts of Marseille, it brings together one hundred and eighteen paintings, watercolors and drawings by the proven鏰l master, lent by private collections and public institutions.

Paul Guigou left his native Vaucluse in 1855 to come work in Paris. Some tutoring allowed him to survive and he was soon admitted to the Salon. He frequently traveled between Paris and Marseille � he even worked as a notary for a few months like his uncle did� but painted each summer in Provence. He took part in the Salon des Refus閟 (Salon of the rejected), then came back to the Salon in Paris, met frequently with the future Impressionist at the caf� Guerbois, but died prematurely at the age of 37 in 1871. He quickly fell into oblivion, just like Fr閐閞ic Bazille whose fate was so similar to his. It was not until the Centennial exhibit in 1900 that his work was rediscovered. The following year the State bought Paysage de Provence (Provence landscape) for the Mus閑 du Luxembourg. Later the great art dealer Paul Rosenberg gave the Louvre museum one of Guigou抯 masterpieces, La Lavandi鑢e,(The washer woman) that hangs today at the mus閑 d扥rsay. A retrospective at the Mus閑 du Luxembourg in 1927 and various exhibits in France contributed to his new renown.

His friend Fr閐閞ic Mistral considered Paul Guigou as the greatest painter of Provence. 玁one one knew better than he how to render the luminous charm of our beautiful region, the harsh poetry of its rocky and sandy soil. He still does not have the place in the word of art he deserves. But the time will come�. The prophecy has in part become a reality. Paul Guigou is the landscape artist of the Haute-Provence region, putting aside a few views of the outskirts of Paris. Strongly attached to his native land, he chose to be the interpreter of its charms, from the garrigues of the Lub閞on to the shores of the Durance. A painter of large open spaces, where light specifies the contours of the trees or rocks, he gave magnificent renderings of the wild charm and the rough beauty of this land. Using a very luminous palette, by the choice of his subjects and the simplicity of their approach, he demonstrated a very modern vision of painting. A few historians consider him an 玦nitiator of Impressionism�. This exhibit should allow a larger public to discover him and to give him the place he deserves in XIXth century painting.