Henri Le Sidaner Paintings

Henri Le Sidaner was a French painter best known for his Intimiste—or intimate portrayals of domestic interiors using Impressionist techniques—depictions of quiet street corners and gardens. Sidaner utilized uneven, dappled brushstrokes to create atmospheric and glowing light in his paintings.

Born on August 7, 1862 in Port Louis, Mauritius, his family moved to Dunkirk, France in 1870 and the artist went on to study at the École des Beaux-Arts under Alexandre Cabanel. He then spent nine years living at the Étaples art colony, where Eugène Boudin, Frank O’Meara, and Gerard Barry also lived and painted.

Between 1885 and 1894 Le Sidaner lived the year round at the Etaples art colony and was joined there by his childhood friend Eugène Chigot (1860–1923), who shared his interest in atmospheric light. Later Le Sidaner traveled extensively throughout France. He also visited many cities around the globe, as well as villages throughout Europe. He exhibited at the Salon, the Galeries Georges Petit in Paris and the Goupil Gallery in London, and settled in Gerberoy.

Marcel Proust’s mention of Le Sidaner’s work in his novel In Search of Lost Time confirms its later reputation. In Sodom and Gomorrah, the narrator mentions that an eminent barrister from Paris had devoted his income to collecting the paintings of the “highly distinguished” but “not great” Le Sidaner

Today, Sidaner’s works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Tate Gallery in London, among others. He died on July 16, 1939 in Paris, France.