Jean-roger Sourgen (1883–1978) – Large Landes Landscape With Pine Trees – Oil On Canvas – 125 C

Jean-Roger Sourgen (1883–1978) – Exceptional Large Landes Landscape, La Lande Rousse en Septembre – 125 cm

Signed and dated lower left. Although the date is now partially faded, “193…” remains clearly visible, allowing the work to be dated to the 1930s, before the Second World War.

There are paintings that depict the Landes, and others that seem to have captured its very soul. This exceptional oil on canvas by Jean-Roger Sourgen, in an impressive panoramic format measuring 125 cm in width, undoubtedly belongs to the latter category.

Before us stretches the Landes countryside at the end of summer, as September begins to transform its colours. In the foreground, the russet heathland unfolds in shades of brown, ochre, heather and fern, crossed by the clear waters of a Landes pond.

Then come the pine trees. Here, Sourgen makes them the true protagonists of the painting. Some are young and slender, while others rise majestically, their reddish-brown trunks reaching towards the sky. Their tall silhouettes punctuate the entire composition, while in the distance a second forest, rendered almost entirely in blue through the effects of distance and light, gradually dissolves into the horizon.

And then there is that extraordinary sky: a vast blue-green expanse, almost turquoise in places, crossed by great clouds of white, mauve and blue-grey.

Sourgen does not merely seek to describe a landscape. Through the juxtaposition of colours, the successive planes of the composition and the remarkable verticality of the pine trees, he gives the heathland an almost monumental dimension.

The composition is exceptionally well balanced. The peaceful horizontality of the heath and water is countered by the soaring vertical lines of the great maritime pines. This contrast gives the work a striking decorative power and a surprisingly modern quality.

But this painting also possesses something that has become increasingly rare: it has come down to us in its original, untouched condition. Kept for many years in a house in Seignosse, according to information provided by its owner it has never been cleaned or restored.

We have deliberately chosen not to intervene. The canvas is therefore offered exactly as it has come down to us, bearing the traces of its history, its original painted surface and several areas of paint loss, all clearly visible in our photographs.

We prefer to leave the decision regarding any future restoration to its new owner rather than present a work that has been artificially renewed. This long-preserved condition gives the painting a particularly moving sense of authenticity and presence.

Measuring 125 × 55 cm, with its remarkable panoramic composition, the graphic power of its pine trees and its superb harmony of blues, greens and russet earth tones, this work is a particularly fine expression of Jean-Roger Sourgen’s vision of the Landes.

A great canvas in every sense of the term: not only in its dimensions, but above all in the extraordinary sense of space, light and silence of the Landes that it brings into the room in which it hangs.

Oil on canvas.
Dimensions: 125 × 55 cm.
Signed J. R. Sourgen lower left.
Provenance: Private collection, Seignosse (Landes), France.
Preserved in its original condition and offered as is.

Its generous panoramic format of 125 cm, particularly rare within Jean-Roger Sourgen’s body of work, gives the composition a remarkable presence and allows the artist to unfold, on an unusually expansive scale, the full depth of the Landes landscape.

The work has been authenticated by Mr Jean-Roger Soubiran, art historian and author of the monograph devoted to Jean-Roger Sourgen.

A certificate of authenticity issued by Mr Soubiran will be provided to the purchaser upon sale.