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20th Century French & European Paintings

About this collection

20th century French oil paintings are the modern register of the gallery, from the early 1900s to the postwar decades, when French and European painters kept the old subjects of landscape, portrait and still life but painted them with freer brushwork and stronger colour.

Colour won. This modern French painting runs from Paris street scenes and harbour views to flower still lifes and portraits, mostly oils on canvas, panel or board with a few gouaches and pastels, and most of it signed. Many works follow the Post-Impressionist manner, and the mid-century French painting of the postwar years shows the influence of the School of Paris. To place these works in the movements they grew out of, see Art Movements & Schools.

An oval lake landscape titled Lake District, signed oil on canvas by Iris Raquin, 1964, in a gilt frame with a grey linen mount

Iris Raquin (1911-1997)

Lake District, an Oval Lake Landscape, Signed Oil on Canvas by Iris Raquin, 1964, Gilt Frame Sale price$1,900
Signed winter snow landscape by Alfred Andrieux with mountains, French oil on panel, carved gilt frame

Alfred Louis Andrieux (1879-1945)

Signed Impressionist Oil Painting, Snowy Landscape by Alfred Louis Andrieux (1879-1945), Early 20th Century French Winter Scene on Panel Sale price$1,800
Unsigned French oil on panel of a shepherd driving his flock through bare trees, in a carved giltwood frame

French School, early 20th century

French School, Shepherd Bringing Down the Flock, Oil on Wood Panel, Early 20th Century, Carved Giltwood Frame Sale price$1,900
Celui du Bois de Boulogne, a piper with a peacock by a lake, signed oil on canvas by Ramon Dilley, 1996, in a hand painted green and gold frame

Ramon Dilley

Celui du Bois de Boulogne, Piper with a Peacock, Signed Oil on Canvas by Ramon Dilley, 1996, Hand Painted Frame Sale price$4,300
Sunset over the rocky Esterel coast, French Impressionist oil on cardboard, early 20th century, in a carved gilt frame

Herve Le Loup de Sainville (1861-1930)

Sunset over the Esterel Coast, Signed Oil on Cardboard by Herve Le Loup de Sainville, French Impressionist, Carved Gilt Frame Sale price$3,400
Wildflowers in a blue and grey stoneware jug with green and red apples on a table, signed oil by Andre Charigny in a carved cream and red bole frame

Andre Charigny (1902-2000)

Andre Charigny, Flowers in a Blue Stoneware Jug, Signed Oil on Hardboard, Mid 20th Century, Carved Montparnasse Frame Sale price$2,800
M. François-Aubert still life of roses in a glass jar and cherries on a garden table, signed oil on canvas in a wide gilt frame

M. François-Aubert

Roses and Cherries, Early 20th Century Sale price$1,900
Boats in the port of Honfleur, signed 20th century French oil on canvas by Georges Berger, unframed

Georges Berger (1908-1976)

The Port of Honfleur with Boats, Signed Oil on Canvas by Georges Berger, 20th Century, Unframed Sale price$1,800
French oil on canvas of fishing boats moored in a harbour, in a gilt frame with carved corner ornaments

French School

French School, Fishing Boats Moored in a Harbour, Oil on Canvas, Early 20th Century, Gilt Frame Sale price$1,900
Signed Daniel Jaugey painting of fishing boats in a French harbour, oil on canvas, 20th century French school, in a gilt and blue frame with carved corners

Daniel Jaugey (born 1929)

Boats in a French Harbour, Signed Oil on Canvas by Daniel Jaugey, 20th Century French School, Framed Sale price$1,900
White dog with chestnut ears lying on stony ground, signed gouache on paper by Gaston Simoes de Fonseca

Gaston Simoes de Fonseca (1874-1943)

Pipo, Portrait of a Soldier's Dog, Signed Gouache on Paper, France, Campaigns of 1914-1918 Sale price$2,400
Flowers in a turquoise vase against a brown damask wall, signed Simon-Auguste, in a gilt frame

Simon Auguste (1909-1987)

Simon-Auguste, Flowers in a Turquoise Vase, Signed Oil on Canvas, French, Mid-Twentieth Century, in a Gilt Frame Sale price$1,800
Signed Victor Spahn painting of a red Formula One racing car on a wet track, oil on canvas, 21st century French school, unframed

Victor Spahn (born 1949)

Formula 1 Racing Car in the Rain, Original Hand Painted Oil on Canvas by Victor Spahn, Signed Sale price$4,355
Woman with yellow gloves, a feathered hat and a pink parasol, signed oil on canvas by André Chochon, in a gilded frame

André Chochon (1910-2005)

Andre Chochon (1910-2005), Portrait of a Woman with Yellow Gloves, Signed French Impressionist Oil on Canvas, 1960s, Framed Sale price$2,400

Elsewhere in the gallery

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20th century paintings for sale at GalerieClub

The century opened in war. French painters lived through two world wars, a revolution in colour and the rise of Paris as the capital of modern art, and the 20th century oil paintings in this collection follow that story from the early 1900s to the 1970s, most of them French modern oil paintings.

Early 20th century French oil paintings

The first decades kept one foot in the old century. Painters still worked from animals, gardens and the people around them, but their touch loosened, and an early 20th century French oil painting often carries the mark of its years directly, a dog painted in the campaigns of the First World War, a portrait dated in the 1920s. Some of these 1900s paintings are on canvas, others on wood panel.

The School of Paris and French modern painting

Between the wars Paris drew painters from all over Europe. Artists from Russia, Poland, Italy and Spain settled in Montparnasse and Montmartre, and critics grouped them, with their French neighbours, under the name School of Paris. It was never a single style. A French modern oil painting in that tradition keeps a recognisable subject, a street, a table, a face, but paints it with free brushwork and bold colour. Paris street scenes crowded with small figures belong to that world.

Post-Impressionist and postwar French oil paintings

Colour kept its hold after the Impressionists. Painters of the early 20th century built on their broken touch but added firmer shapes and bolder colour, and a Post-Impressionist style oil painting keeps that double inheritance, light from Impressionism and structure from what came after. After 1945 the same freedom carried on. French painters of the 1950s and 1960s returned to the garden, the table and the racecourse, and a postwar French oil painting often flattens its space and lets colour carry the subject, from a polo match to a vase of flowers.

Signed paintings in oil, gouache and pastel

Most painters of the century signed on the front. Oil on canvas, panel or board makes up most of the collection, with a few signed gouaches and pastels, and some canvases come unframed, ready for a frame of the buyer's choosing.

Shipping is free to the USA and Canada, packed and tracked from France. New to buying old paintings? Start with our guide to How to Collect Antique Paintings.

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