Portrait Of Jules Moreau

Max Moreau, son of the painter Henri Moreau, was born in Soignies on September 2, 1902. In 1905, the Moreau family moved to Brussels. His father took his son with him to the cabarets and theaters of the capital from a very young age. As a teenager, Max Moreau frequented museums, copying works by great masters such as Velázquez and Frans Hals. He continued to frequent the theaters and painted a significant number of portraits of artists. In 1920, the family moved to Paris. In 1923, Max Moreau returned to Brussels to complete his military service. In 1929, he began a long series of travels. He made five extended stays in Tunisia between 1929 and 1938, during which he discovered the light of the Maghreb. In 1933 and 1934, he exhibited at the Tunisian Salon during his visits. In 1947, he settled in Marrakech, Morocco. There, they frequented, among others, General Juin and his wife, the painter Jacques Majorelle, as well as the colonial bourgeoisie. In 1950, they moved to Paris, and in March 1951, Max Moreau exhibited his major works brought back from Morocco at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery in Paris. In October 1954, the painter left alone to try his luck in New York. He achieved considerable success there, mainly with portraits of the gentry. From 1956 to 1960, he returned to the United States four times, primarily to Palm Beach, where his portraits of the jet set earned him a great deal of money. In 1965, Max Moreau bought the then-abandoned Carmelite convent of Los Geranios in the Albayzín district of Granada, and in 1966, the couple settled permanently in Granada. He held numerous exhibitions in Belgium and Granada, where he died on September 2, 1992. This is a portrait of a member of the artist's family.