Henri le Sidaner

Le Sidaner developed his distinctine idiom during the 1890's, under the influence of symbolism.  The poignant fin-de-siècle mood of Maeterlinck and Verhaern, of Lévy-Dhurmer and Khnopff set the tone of his oeuvre.  On a formal level, he found a suitably harmonious, all over treatment for his compostitions in Neo-Impressionism.

Critics have frequently described Le Sidaner's work in terms of musicality and silence.  Always in a 'minor key;' its subtle harmonies are seen to evoke a whistful mood that is exasperated as Paul Signac notes, by the absence of figures: "His oeuvre displays a taste for tender, soft and silent atmospheres.  Gradually, he even went so far as to eliminate all human presence from his pictures, as if he feared that the slightest human form might disturb their muffled silence" (quoted in Y. Farinaux-Le Sidaner, op. cit., p31).  Instead the artist focused on the architectural and domestic environments as well as their accoutrements man creates for himself.  "He considered that the silent harmony of things is enough to evoke the presence of those who live among them.  Indeed, such presences are felt throughout his works.  Deserted they may be but never empty" (C. Mauclair, Henri Le Sidaner, Paris, 1928, p.12).

The home and gardens Le Sidaner created at Gerbroy and Versailles provided his most enduring themes.  The present work is one of his crowning achievements of the numerous variations executed during the 1920's.  As Maurice Hamberger points out, "Le Sidaner has sensed that beauty, like happiness, consists above all in inner harmony, calm and simplicity" (Le Soir, 1930)