Henri Le Sidaner (1862 - 1939) was a French artist active in the early 20th century. He was born in 1862 on the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, and until his death in 1939 - several weeks before the outbreak of World War II - pursued his distinctive Intimist-inspired style, which did not quite belong to any of the contemporaneous movements such as Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism or Symbolism, though no doubt informed by them. Best known for his serene, evocative renditions of subjects close to his heart - his garden in Gerberoy, its garden table, roses, the night forest, moonlit nights, lit windows of houses at dusk - Le Sidaner’s works were and remain highly sought-after. Today many of his works are in important museum collections in France, Europe and North America, where they continue to attract enthusiastic fans. Le Sidaner’s works have a universal appeal and warmth that gently inspire nostalgia in viewers of all ages and cultural backgrounds.

In Japan there were frequent exhibitions featuring Le Sidaner’s works during his lifetime. Today, just a handful are regularly on view in permanent collections of several museums, and there had not been a monographic exhibition for a long time, although Le Sidaner exhibitions were growing in number in Europe, where there had been a major retrospective at the Musée Marmottan Monet in 1989. This long-awaited exhibition was the first in Japan to comprehensively survey the oeuvre of Henri Le Sidaner. The exhibition was planned and supervised by art historian and great-grandson of the artist Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner.

Exhibits :

• About 70 works (oils, pastels and works on paper)

Catalogue texts :

• Yann Farinaux-Le Sidaner
• Yoshiyuki Furutani

Lenders :

• Le Sidaner family
• Singer Laren, the Netherlands
• Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris
• Other public and private collections in France, Belgium and Japan

Venues and durations :

<image> Henri Le Sidaner
La Table et la Maison, Gerberoy
1935, Oil/Canvas
Singer Laren, the Netherlands
Photo © Singer Laren / Tom Haartsen, Amsterdam