Roger Chapelain-midy - Seaside In Normandy

Oil on canvas by Chapelain-Midy depicting a Normandy seaside.

Dimensions: 61 x 81 cm; with frame: 70 x 90 cm

A student at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Roger Chapelain-Midy (1904-1992) exhibited from 1927 at the Salon d'Automne, then at the Salon des Indépendants from 1929 and at Drouant in 1930.

Passionate about the Renaissance, he painted mainly landscapes and still lifes, oscillating between realism and symbolism. A set and costume designer, he also worked for the Paris Opera on Les Indes Galantes in 1952 and La Flûte Enchantée in 1954. He also illustrated numerous works by Baudelaire, La Fontaine and Giraudoux.

This large-format oil on canvas painted in 1989 is typical of his landscapes. The beach at low tide and perfectly cut cliffs are bathed in a beautiful clarity enjoyed by a couple. In the distance, a ship lets out a vapor that heralds the clearing and responds to the right-hand side of the sky, cluttered, but driven out by the tide.

It is likely that this landscape was painted in the vicinity of Étretat. Indeed, a canvas depicting a similar scene, of the same size and painted in the same year, is preserved at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lille with this location.