Adrien Moreau Biography | Oil Paintings

Adrien Moreau (the Painter) began his artistic training as an apprentice glass maker but left for Paris to study at the École des Beaux-Arts, first with Léon Cogniet for a year and then with Isidore Pils. His first exhibit at the Paris Salon was in 1868 when he was twenty-five years old.

During the Franco-Prussian war, his studio was destroyed, it was not until his 1873 oil painting, Concert d’Amateurs dans un Atelier d’Artiste which really established him in the public eye, and his art became in great demand, particularly in America.

Adrien Moreau continued to exhibit at the salon until the end of his life, being awarded a silver medal in 1876 for Repose at the farm. He also won silver medals at the 1889 and 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Adrien Moreau became a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1892.

Adrien Moreau painted in oil and watercolor, and during his life became well known for his historical depictions of the French upper classes of the past centuries, though he was equally at home in genre landscape paintings featuring peasants and their everyday life. He provided watercolor illustrations and drawings for books by authors such as Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Alphonse Daudet and Honoré de Balzac. He also wrote a book on the history of his family called "Les Moreaus". In 1996, his work Gypsy Dancer sold for over $330,000 at auction.

Art Movement: Academic.
Artists Influencing Adrien Moreau: Léon Cogniet, Isidore Pils.
Artist Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.