Francine Chimène, Pink Pot, French School, Chatou, 1970s Francine Chimène (1929–2019)

Francine Chimène, Pink Pot, French School, Chatou, 1970s

Francine Chimène (1929–2019)
Oil on canvas
47 × 56 cm
18.5 × 22 in.
1970s
Signed “F. Chimène” lower right
Titled on the reverse: “Pot rose”
Inscription on the stretcher: “Chimène – 22 rue Labélonye – Chatou”
Studio or inventory numbers on the reverse, including “31”
Good condition

Still life by Francine Chimène, a French painter active in Chatou, near Paris. The large pink pot dominates a composition of fruits in intense yellow, orange and green tones, set against broad dark areas that heighten their chromatic presence.

The objects remain recognizable but are simplified into broad forms and masses of color. The very free construction anticipates Chimène’s development toward an increasingly synthetic and abstract language, in which color and rhythm progressively take precedence over description.

The stretcher bears the artist’s name and her Chatou address, “Chimène – 22 rue Labélonye – Chatou”, together with several studio or inventory numbers.

Francine Chimène lived and worked in Chatou, on the banks of the Seine, a town historically associated with the Impressionists and the Île des Impressionnistes. Her daughter, Marion Dillange (1963–2020), was also a painter, working mainly in abstraction and collage.