Georges Darnet (1859-1936) Flowering Tree Dordogne

Georges DARNET
(Périgueux 1859 - 1936)
Blossoming tree
Oil on cardboard
H. 26 cm; W. 35 cm
Signed lower left.

Provenance: Private collection, Périgueux

Georges Darnet was born in Périgueux, into a family of tailors from the banks of the Dordogne around Lalinde on his father's side and into a family of butchers from the department's capital on his mother's. He grew up and continued his studies in Périgueux before moving to Bordeaux to be a boarder at the School of Fine Arts. Unfortunately, we do not know the details of his life or career, but we do know that he was under the guidance of Louis Auguin, a famous Bordeaux painter depicting all the dunes of the Atlantic coast. It was certainly through his apprenticeship with the master that he opted for works with light and luminous tones where color never took precedence over the downy atmosphere. Upon his return to Périgueux after his studies, Georges Darnet became a teacher at the city's drawing school, which was run by Jean-Georges Pasquet. This painter, who was eight years his senior, became his faithful friend. They worked side by side on the motif during their free days. He was mobilized during the First World War at the age of 55 and was wounded three times until February 1918, which earned him the Croix de Guerre, without even being demobilized. He did not, however, abandon his brushes, and even presented his works at the Salon des Artistes Français, of which he was already a member in his youth, and where he received an honorable mention in 1920 and a third medal in 1928.

This work by Darnet, produced around 1920, certainly near Périgueux, takes up the artist's usual format. It embodies the poetry of the Périgord landscape, like the productions of Daniel and Pasquet, his acolytes. The artist captures the fleeting moment of spring, when a flowering tree becomes the protagonist of a composition bathed in light. With a light and vaporous touch, Darnet translates the softness of the atmosphere, while the distant horizon fades into a delicate mist. The balanced tones demonstrate a sensitive view of nature, which aptly illustrates the influence of Impressionism on regional painters of the early 20th century, committed to rendering the luminous vibrations of the landscape.