Marcel Peltier - The Armada In Rouen

Large oil on canvas by Marcel Peltier featuring strollers at the Rouen Armada.

Oil: 60 x 73 cm; frame: 68.5 x 81.5 cm

Peltier was born in Louviers in 1924. A sailor with the Compagnie Transatlantique for 8 years, he discovered the world, particularly America, before returning to Rouen where he enrolled at the Beaux-Arts.

Hospitalized, he met Pierre Bonnard's nephew in a nearby room. The two became friends. Encouraged by the nursing staff, they moved into the same room, which they transformed into a veritable studio. Peltier went on to work with Lucien Fontanarosa and Fernand Élie.

His predominantly blue paintings play with reflections, like a huge mirror animated by touches of bright color. This animated view of the Armada, referenced on the artist's website, is particularly representative of his work. Indeed, a blue-gray chromatic range is enhanced by the characters' outfits, the pavoised sailing ships and the red pompom of the sailor taking a photograph in the foreground.