With a rich and varied scenery, colourful history and fine culture, it comes as no surprise how many artists inspired by France produced world famous artworks. Artists from all round the globe have found subjects to paint and sculpt in the country whose people, landscapes and way of life form the backdrop to some of the most famous paintings. In our latest blog post, we take a look at nine artists who fell most deeply under the spell of western Europe’s largest country. They include foreign creators and homeborn geniuses.
Best sketches of southern France
One of the greatest English marine painters, JMW (aka William) Turner, also found inspiration in the French countryside. In 1828, he returned to England from Italy via southern France and discovered scenery worthy of dozens of sketches. He produced two compilations of them– Orléans to Marseilles and Lyons to Marseilles – as well as watercolours of seascapes on the French Mediterranean coast, a world apart from his well known marine paintings.
Painting of note inspired by France: View of the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
See it at: The Louvre
Visit the Louvre on an excursion from Champagne
Best inspiration from Brittany
Some of the best artists inspired by France are much lesser known. Australian John Peter Russell is one of them and exemplar of the Impressionist movement. On the back of an inheritance windfall he made his way in the late 19th century from his native Sydney to Paris. Here, he met artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh along his French painting journey.
But it was in Brittany that he discovered his vocation for painting French landscapes. Deeply taken with the rugged coastline and rocky shores on the island of Belle-Île-en- Mer, he painted many landscapes in the Impressionist style. He later replicated this with the countryside of the French Riviera, particularly at Antibes.
Painting of note inspired by the French Riviera: In the Morning – Alpes Maritimes from Antibes
See it at: The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Come discover Brittany for yourself
Best French landscapes in the English style
At the age of 14, Richard Parkes Bonington moved to France with his family in 1816. His artistic education included painting in the English landscape style, a technique he applied with great skill to the Normandy scenery.
His work depicting coastal scenes – he spent nearly a year in Dunkirk capturing the essence of the sea and shore – is renowned as among the best landscapes in France. He would undoubtedly have gone on to create many more had he not fallen ill to consumption and died at just 26.
Painting of note inspired by French coasts: An Estuary in Northern France
See it at: The National Gallery in London
Best Provence landscapes
Perhaps more than anyone, Van Gogh stands out as one of the artists inspired most by France and it was the southern lands of Provence that provided his biggest influence. Although he started his love affair with France in Paris, Van Gogh found his true colours in Arles.
His palette grew bright and vibrant under the influence of Provençal colours. The light and agricultural landscapes (olive groves, wheat fields, cypress trees, sunflowers…) became his pet subjects and now count among the most highly sought after paintings at auction in the world.
Painting of note inspired by Provence: The Starry Night
See it at: Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York
Indulge in the experiences of Provence
Best French forests (and trees)
French landscapes have inspired countless artists throughout the ages, but when it comes to trees and forests, one man stands out. Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot made trees in France his own in the early 19th century. Using historic forests as his muse – Fontainebleau just outside Paris was a particular favourite – Corot became one of the best painters ever of tree landscapes.
Oils were his preferred type of paint and his talent captured the light and movement perfectly even in this heavier medium. His renditions of natural France that inspired his work are admired the world over and Corot is generally recognised as perhaps the master of plein air painting.
Painting of note inspired by French trees: Forest of Fontainebleau
See it at: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Explore the forests within France’s national parks
Best abstract artist of all
Although Spanish born, Pablo Picasso spent most of his life in France. Like so many artists in the early 20th century, he set up in Paris, something of a honeypot for the world’s creative minds. And it was here that he “came into his own amid the sleaze and bohemianism of Paris – the only city that could have matched his peerless imagination”.
He later moved to Provence, inspired by Cézanne. “I have just bought myself Cézanne’s mountains,” he said when he purchased a castle at Vauvenargues on Sainte Victoire, the French artist’s favourite. While Picasso’s abstract style means you won’t recognise much of France in his work, the country and French culture offered lasting inspiration to him.
Painting of note inspired by Provence: Nude under a Pine Tree
See it at: Art Institute Chicago
Be inspire by a hotel barge cruise through Provence
Best colour palette
Before he moved to Paris in 1910, Marc Chagall was already familiar with Henri Matisse and his use of colour. But it was in the City of Light that the Russian artist discovered Cubism and his signature vibrant colours.
Chagall embraced the Parisian artistic culture – “Paris! No word sounded sweeter to me,” he would claim. Perhaps the best example of the capital’s influence on him can be found in Paris Through the Window where the iconic Eiffel Tower takes centre stage and a parachutist adds a touch of modernism.
Paintings of note inspired by the City of Light: Paris Through the Window
See them at: Guggenheim, New York
See his stained glass window in Sarrebourg aboard our Alsace cruises
Best portrait of Paris
Always one of Europe’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan capitals, Paris has long provided a backdrop to fascinate painters. One of the maestros of depicting Parisian life was Édouard Manet. His canvases provide an exceptional insight into everyday life in the French capital in the 19th century.
Manet was one of the first painters to use modern life as a subject. His portraits of Parisian high and low life show Paris warts and all from absinthe addicts and brothel life to the bourgeoisie and bohemians. His artistic movement also portrayed café scenes, masked balls and horse races as well as paintings of city landmarks.
Painting of note inspired by Paris: The Railway
See it at: National Gallery of Art, Washington
Best French figures
The last of our artists inspired by France was a sculpturist and the world’s maestro in this medium. August Rodin was second to none when it comes to creating figures and while the classics inspired him so did the French themselves.
Some of his most famous works have their roots in France. The Burghers of Calais is a piece of art inspired by the 100 Years War with England and depicts the selflessness of six prominent locals. Rodin also sculpted magnificent monuments to two of France’s greatest authors: Victor Hugo and Honoré Balzac. And The Thinker, probably the world’s most iconic sculpture of all, draws its influence from the great tradition of philosophy in France.
Sculpture of note inspired by French figures: Monument to Victor Hugo
See them at: Musée Rodin, Paris
Get to know Paris on a river cruise
Let France inspire the artist in you
See for yourself how travel inspirations spurred art movements while on your own trip to France. The landscapes, people and lifestyle that have influenced artists the world await you as you glide along the French waterways. However you choose to travel – on board a luxury hotel barge, a river cruise or hire boat – one thing is guaranteed: you too will be inspired by the stunning landscapes that greet you at every meander on the river or canal.
Start browsing now and book your inspirational trip.
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