This page forms part of a series of pages dedicated to the many artists who painted in Deauville. A full list of all the artists with a link to their works can be found at the bottom of this page.
Movement(s): Post Impressionism
Paul Cesar Helleu (1859 – 1927) was a French oil painter, pastel artist, drypoint etcher, and designer, best known for his numerous portraits of beautiful society women of the Belle Epoque. He also conceived the ceiling mural of night sky constellations for Grand Central Terminal in New York City. He was also the father of Jean Helleu and the grandfather of Jacques Helleu, both artistic directors for Parfums Chanel.
Paul César Helleu was born in Vannes, Brittany, France. His father, who was a customs inspector, died when Helleu was in his teens. Despite opposition from his mother, he then went to Paris and studied at Lycee Chaptal. In 1876, at age 16, he was admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, beginning academic training in art with Jean-Leon Gerome. Helleu attended the Second Impressionist Exhibition in the same year, and made his first acquaintances with John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Claude Monet. He was struck by their modern, bold alla prima technique and outdoor scenes, so far removed from the studio. Following graduation, Helleu took a job with the firm Theodore Deck Ceramique Française hand-painting fine decorative plates. At this same time, he met Giovanni Boldini, a portrait painter with a facile, bravura style, who became a mentor and comrade, and strongly influenced his future artistic style.
Helleu was commissioned in 1884 to paint a portrait of a young woman named Alice Guérin (1870–1933). They fell in love, and married on 28 July 1886. Throughout their lives together, she was his favourite model. Charming, refined and graceful, she helped introduce them to the aristocratic circles of Paris, where they became popular fixtures.
Helleu took up sailing, owning four yachts over his life. Ships, harbor views, life at port in Deauville, and women in their fashionable seaside attire became subjects for many vivid and spirited works.
On his second trip to the United States in 1912, Helleu was awarded the commission to design was the ceiling decoration in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. He decided on a mural of a blue-green night sky covered by the starry signs of the zodiac that cross the Milky Way. Although the astrological design was widely admired, the ceiling was covered in the 1930s. It was completely restored in 1998.
While planning for a new exhibition with Jean-Louis Forain, he died in 1927 at age 67 of peritonitis following surgery in Paris. Among many of his friends was Coco Chanel, who chose beige as her signature colour upon on his advice—the colour of the sand on the beach of Biarritz in early morning. Both his son Jean Helleu and his grandson Jacques Helleu became artistic directors for Parfums Chanel.
Click here to read Helleu’s full bio on Wikipedia.
NOTE: A black box like this one, means that there is an explanation text about today’s situation of the painting above it.
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anywhere below a painting to see a photo of what the area looks like today.
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TODAY: The beach at Deauville is one of its most popular points of interest. The beach with its white sand is enormous.
TODAY: There are still many ships harbored at Deauville, however, the majority are pleasure boats.
Helleu painted mostly elegant woman, but he did paint in several cities in Normandy. Here they are (a link “⇠” to his works will appear below when published):
- Deauville ⇠
- Dieppe (and surroundings)
- Harfleur
Deauville was (and still is) a popular place to paint. Here are the artists we found that worked in the city and its surroundings. When an artist’s work is published by us, we’ll show a link (“⇠“) to their works of art. A “*” indicates that the artist did NOT paint directly in Deauville, instead worked in Deauville’s surroundings.
- 🇫🇷 Binet, George ⇠
- 🇺🇸 Boggs, Frank Myers ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Boudin, Eugene-Louis ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Caillebotte, Gustave * ⇠
- 🇺🇸 Chapman, Conrad Wise ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Chapuis, Pierre ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Courbet, Gustave ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Dufy, Jean ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Dufy, Raoul ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Gernez, Paul-Elie ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Helleu, Paul Cesar ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Huet, Paul * ⇠
- 🇳🇱 Kickert, Conrad Theodore * ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Le Gray, Gustave ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Lebourg, Albert * ⇠
- 🇷🇺 Korovin, Konstantin ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Lebasque, Henri ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Pecrus, Charles Francois ⇠
- 🇧🇪 Stevens, Alfred Emile Leopold ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Truffaut, Fernand Fortune ⇠
- 🇨🇭 Vallotton, Felix ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Valtat, Louis ⇠
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