French Landscape Painting of the Palais des Papes Avignon

A bold, graphic view of the Palais des Papes rising above the trees of Avignon, painted from across the water on the Île de la Barthelasse. The painter flattens the whole scene into clean, confident shapes, the pale towers with their glint of gold, the dark spears of cypress, the great bare plane tree branching into a deep blue sky, and a foreground of ochre and slate laid down in broad, calm bands. It has the spirit of mid-century modern painting, pared back and deliberate, and the restraint is exactly what makes it feel fresh rather than fussy. This is not a postcard of a monument. It is a designed, color-forward picture that holds a wall.

About the Place
The subject is one of the great monuments of Europe. The Palais des Papes in Avignon, in the south of France, is one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings on the continent, the biggest Gothic palace in the world. It was built from 1335 by two “builder popes,” and for most of the 14th century it was the seat of the papacy itself: seven popes ruled Western Christendom from these halls during the Avignon Papacy, making this the center of the Catholic world. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and this is its classic view, seen across the Rhône from the island of La Barthelasse, the vantage point generations of painters have chosen to capture the palace above the river. To hang this is to hang a piece of Provence and a thousand years of history.

Why We Love It
The flatness is what we keep coming back to. The painter reduces a vast Gothic palace, a river, and a Provençal sky to a handful of clean shapes and flat planes of color, and it works: the simplified trees, the graphic water in the foreground, the palace pared down to pale blocks against blue. The color does a lot of the talking: ochre against slate blue, warm gold on the towers, deep cypress green, a combination that is calm and rich at once. That is the magic of it, a genuinely restful picture that still holds your eye and never turns generic. And the frame is the finishing touch. Its warm, mellow wood tone suits the painting beautifully and gives it real presence on a wall.

Key Features:

• Origin: France
• Medium: Oil on artist’s board (carton à peindre), a French canvas-textured painting board. The reverse carries the maker’s stamp of Le Bélier (“Cartons à Peindre — Le Bélier — Toilé Lux”), N° 8 Figure format.
• Period: Early to mid 20th century
• Signature: Signed lower left by the artist
• Dimensions: 24" x 20 7/8"
• Condition: Excellent vintage condition. Presented in a warm wood frame (early-to-mid 20th century and possibly older), not original to the painting, with an age-worn patina. The frame bears an impressed mark that appears to read “P. André,” most likely a workshop or supplier mark. Please see photos for details. 
• This piece will be shipped from Los Angeles.