Naïve Painting, Haitian Naïve School, The King And Queen Fishing, Painting Signed Alfred Altidor

Alfred Altidor (Haiti) — King and Queen Fishing, oil on canvas, 77 x 61 cm, signed lower left. Sold with invoice/certificate. This painting by Alfred Altidor is firmly rooted in the great tradition of Haitian Naïve art, as it developed in the 20th century around major figures such as Hector Hyppolite and Rigaud Benoît. Here, Altidor chooses a subject that is both simple and symbolic: a king and queen, outdoors, seated in a lush setting, fishing side by side. Everything is conveyed through the controlled gentleness of the scene. The queen, dressed in a long mauve polka-dot dress, holds her fishing rod with an almost ceremonial calm. The crowned king, in a richly colored ceremonial costume—deep blue, red, and gold—seems engaged in silent conversation, his hand raised in a gesture that is both light and precise. There is a restraint, a balance between the two figures, as if the relationship were playing out in this suspended moment, in the shared attention to the water, the line, the slow movement. The soft palette (mauve, leafy greens, sky blue) creates a calm and luminous atmosphere, where royalty resides not in power but in presence, patience, and the shared gesture. This painting was recently reproduced and featured in Aladin magazine (November issue), in an article devoted to naive painting and, more specifically, the Haitian tradition. (See the magazine photo.) They are simply mistaken about the painting's dimensions.