Louis Mathieu Verdilhan

Verdilhan moved to Marseilles at a very young age and briefly attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He used the name Mathieu to avoid any confusion with his brother, André Verdilhan, also a painter. His friend Bourdelle, who regarded his work highly, called him Le Mathieu. He was also close to Suarès, Marcel Brion, Louis Audibert, Marquet, Doucet and Robert Rey, who dedicated a preface to him. Despite loosing his left eye, he continued to paint. Verdilhan adhered briefly to Fauvism, having previously been influenced by the Impressionists. He was of a generous temperament and the coloured violence and graphic vigour of Fauvism enabled him to express his own feelings before the same landscapes Cézanne had viewed. He distilled the subject, or its nature into a few essential lines. He retained Cézannes classical organisation of the composition in a way also used by Friesz, Marquet and Vlaminck, Marquet’s influence gave him a preference for using pale outlines surrounding flat colours. He first exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Independants in 1910. He first showed his works at a solo exhibition in 1900 at the Galerie Braun in Marseilles, which was followed by the exhibitions at the Galerie La Licorne in Paris in 1922 and the Kraushaar Gallery in New York in 1923. Retrospectives of his work were held at the Musee d’Art in Toulon in 1950 and 1967.