Henry Moret Biography | Oil Paintings

The life of Henry Moret up until he is nineteen remains somewhat of a mystery when began his military service in 1875. His commander in the Lorient region, Colonel Jules La Villette, noticed his artistic talents and introduced him to Ernest Corroller, a drawing teacher, and marine painter. Corroller taught him the art of plein-air landscape painting as practiced by masters such as Jean Baptiste Camille Corot and Gustave Courbet. He registered at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris after finishing his military service in1876, where he studied with Rudolf Lehmann, Jean-Léon Gérôme and later, from 1880, under the history painter Jean-Paul Laurens.

Henry Moret had his first exhibit at the 1880 Paris Salon, with his oil painting La Plage de Locqueltas à Marée Basse; Côte de Bretagne (The Beach at Locqueltas at Low Tide; Coast of Brittany. He maintained contact with his teacher and friend Corroller, often returning to Brittany to paint. In 1888, he arrived in Pont-Aven which had begun to attract several artists including Ernest de Chamaillard, Émile Jourdan, and Charles Lavant, with Paul Gauguin the leader of the group. Moret was one of the first painters to move to nearby Le Pouldu. Soon followed by other Pont-Aven artists. As a result of Gauguin's influence, Moret work began to show signs of Symbolism.

After Gauguin left the area in 1891 to sail to Tahiti, Henry Moret began to develop his style. In 1895, he met and established a relationship with the most famous art dealer in France, Paul Durand-Ruel who maintained many galleries in Paris, London, and New York, with an emphasis on Impressionism artists. Henry Moret completed over 600 paintings, many of which were exhibited in Durand-Ruel's Paris and New York galleries, leading to a growing clientele for his work. Moret also exhibited seven of his Breton paintings at the Salon des Indépendants, the leading show for new artwork. After 1900, Moret became more devoted to the Impressionist style but with a change, applying small strokes of paint to his work rather than the broad strokes favored by the Pont-Aven artists.

Art Movement: Impressionism.
Artists Influencing Henry Moret: Ernest Corroller, Rudolf Lehmann, Jean-Léon Gérôme, Jean-Paul Laurens.
Artist Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.