Rue Lepic In Paris, Oil Painting Signed Gérar Circa 1950

GÉRAR – View of Rue Lepic in Montmartre – Le Café des Deux Moulins – Paris, circa 1940–1950

Oil on canvas signed “Gérar” in the lower right corner, depicting a lively view of Rue Lepic in the Montmartre district of Paris, circa 1940–1950.
The composition depicts a street lined with Parisian buildings, featuring shops, store signs, passersby, and several vintage cars. Notable features include a tobacco shop, a dairy, and the sign for the Grand Hôtel Baby.
In the foreground is the Café des Deux Moulins, located at 15 Rue Lepic, at the corner of Rue Cauchois. This establishment, whose existence dates back to the early 20th century, became famous thanks to the film *Amélie*, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and released in 2001. It was one of the film’s main shooting locations, where the character Amélie, played by Audrey Tautou, works.
This painting thus holds particular documentary value by depicting the café and its urban surroundings several decades before it gained fame through the film.
The painting is characterized by a composition with simplified perspectives, a fluid brushstroke, and a palette of gray, ochre, pink, and blue tones, in the spirit of mid-20th-century Parisian figurative painting.
On the reverse, a handwritten inscription reads “Rue Lepic.”
Oil on canvas, signed Gerar. French School, mid-20th century.