Pierre Grivolas

Peasants at Sunset

Mont Ventoux

Pierre Grivolas (2 September 1823, Avignon - 5 February 1906, Avignon) was a French painter; known for landscapes, portraits and genre scenes.

Biography

After displaying an early talent for drawing, his parents enrolled him in art classes. In 1843, he won first prize in the Biennial Design Contest at the Fondation Calvet, which came with a cash award that enabled him to continue his studies in Paris. There, he was a student at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he met and was influenced by Dominique Ingres, Eugène Delacroix and Hippolyte Flandrin. In 1848, at the outbreak of the February Revolution, he returned to Avignon. He became one of the first members of the Félibrige in 1854.

From 1878 until his death, he was the Director of the École des Beaux-Arts d'Avignon; steering his students away from Academicism by taking them on plein aire excursions to Les Angles and along the Rhône. He is credited with creating the art movement now known as the "Nouvelle école d'Avignon".

In 1894, he invited his younger brother, Antoine (1843-1902), a still-life painter, to leave his home on the Côte d'Azur and join him at his home near Mont Ventoux, where they lived like shepherds while making sketches. The following year, they moved to Monieux, a small village at the entrance to the Gorges de la Nesque. They spent the next season at Ventouret, near Aurel, attempting to capture the colors of the mountain landscape.

A street in Avignon has been named after him.

Further reading

• Hélène Deronne; Pierre Grivolas (1823-1906), peintre, félibre, chef de fil de l'école d'Avignon, Barthélemy, Institut Européen Séguier, 2015 ISBN 978-2-87923-272-0

External links

• Arcadja Auctions: More works by Grivolas.