'Le Jardin du Luxembourg' by Marie de Nivouliès de Pierrefort (circa 1910)

'Le Jardin du Luxembourg', oil on canvas, by Marie de Nivouliès de Pierrefort (circa 1910). Parisians are not equivocal about their park preferences. Some clearly favour the Tuileries, while others stand firmly with feet planted in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Perhaps this is analogous to residents' strongly-held preferences for either the Café Deux Magots or the Café de Flore, just down the Boulevard Saint-Germain. Back to the gardens though, I have always been captivated by the Luxembourg Gardens. It's the lawns, tree-lined promenades, tennis courts, flowerbeds, model sailboats on its octagonal Grand Bassin, as well as the picturesque Medici Fountain, built in 1620. It has beauty and symmetry all at once. Perhaps the artist, Nivouliès, also preferred Luxembourg Gardens as this may be her finest work seen by this gallery. With graceful Impressionist style, the artist depicts strollers and lovers lounging under the mature tree which percolates with autumnal hues and contrasts with the statue, cold, rigid and colourless, yet approving of the artist's work. I believe Nivouliès preferred Café de Flore, by the way. The artwork is in good overall condition having undergone a thorough reconditioning by an art restoration professional. The artist signed the work in the lower left hand. The piece is newly framed with museum quality rigour. Please enjoy the many photos accompanying the listing. Upon request a video will be provided. 

About the Artist: Although she was a direct descendant of the counts of de Pierrefort, Marie de Nivouliès de Pierrefort's family was very poor. In spite of the poverty, Pierrefort attended a Catholic school run by nuns, obtaining a scholarship from the School of Fine Arts of Paris. While still a student, she attended workshops of great Impressionist masters such as Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) and Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947). In 1910 she won a travel award from the school and traveled to Tunisia where she painted several Mediterranean landscapes.

In 1938 the painter moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she painted the beautiful landscapes seen from her window. In Rio, Pierrefort had two individual exhibitions, both at the National Museum of Fine Arts, in the years 1946 and 1956. 

Although widowed in 1944, Pierrefort decided not to return to France until 1950. She remained there until 1959 when she definitively returned to Brazil. Her atelier in the neighborhood of Glória was frequented by many emerging artists who learned the techniques of impressionism from her. Afterwards, Pierrefort painted for almost a decade in Brazil until she passed away in 1968 in Rio. After her death, many canvases were found in her studio but had been damaged or destroyed by humidity and by the intervention of her many cats. The painter Sergio Telles, her friend and follower, carefully restored what was left of her work. He then dedicated the book "Marie Nivouliès" in her honour which promoted a posthumous exhibition of the artist in 1977. After the show in Buenos Aires, Sergio Telles promoted a retrospective of Nivouliès' work at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, at MASP, at the Buenos Aires Museum of Art, and at the National Museum of Toulon, France, the artist's birthplace. Almost 20 years after her death, a gallery of art in Rio organized a last great commercial exhibition which was the last opportunity that the public had to acquire her artworks. 

Dimensions with frame:

H 63 cm / 24.8"

W 53.5 / 21.1"

Dimensions without frame:

H 55.5 cm / 21.9"

W 45.5 cm / 17.9"