Henry Moret

Dieppe – The Artists – Moret, Henry

This page forms part of a series of pages dedicated to the many artists who painted in Dieppe. A full list of all the artists with a link to their works can be found at the bottom of this page.

Henry Moret (1856 – 1913) was a French Impressionist painter. He was one of the artists who associated with Paul Gauguin at Pont-Aven in Brittany. He is best known for his involvement in the Pont-Aven artist colony and his richly colored landscapes of coastal Brittany.

Moret was born in Cherbourg, but little is known of his life until he began his military service in 1875. Jules La Villette, his commander in Lorient, who first noticed his artistic talents, introduced him to Ernest Corroller, a drawing teacher and marine painter. Corroller taught him the art of landscape painting as practiced by masters such as Corot and Courbet, enabling him to register at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris where in 1876 he studied under Rudolf Lehmann, Jean-Leon Gerome and later, from about 1880, under the history painter Jean-Paul Laurens at the Academie Julian.

In 1888, he arrived in Pont-Aven which had begun to attract a number of artists including Ernest de Chamaillard, Émile Jourdan, and Charles Laval, with Paul Gauguin playing the leading role. Moret was one of the first painters to move to nearby le Pouldu which soon became the new centre of attraction for the Pont-Aven artists. His work began to show signs of Symbolism, probably as a result of Gauguin’s influence.

After Gauguin left the area in 1891, Moret began to develop his own style. In 1895, he established a fruitful relationship with Paul Durand-Ruel who maintained a number of galleries in Paris, London and New York, with an emphasis on Impressionism. During their relationship, Moret completed over 600 paintings, many of which were exhibited in Paris and New York leading to a growing clientele for his work. Moret also exhibited seven of his Breton paintings at the Salon des Indépendants. After 1900, Moret became more immersed in Impressionism, applying small flecks of paint to his work rather than the broad strokes favoured by the Pont-Aven artists. Increasingly he focused on landscapes where his light effects can be seen in the sunsets and storm scenes he painted around 1909. In addition to his oils for Durand-Ruel, he also completed some 800 watercolours and drawings. He died in Paris, aged 56.

Click here to read Moret’s full bio on Wikipedia.

NOTE: Click on the image below for a bigger version (no new window will open).

1912 - Henry Moret - The Channel at Dieppe
1912 – Henry Moret – The Channel at Dieppe

Moret made the majority of his paintings in Brittany, but did manage a few in Normandy. Here are the places he painted in (a link “⇠” to his works will appear here when published):

  • Brittany
    • Audierne
    • Clohars-Carnoet
    • Doelan
    • Lorient
    • Pont-Aven
    • Port Louis
    • Port Manech
    • Quimper
    • Tregunc
  • Normandy

Dieppe in Normandy was a popular place for artists to come and apply their art. Here is a list, non exhaustive, of the artists that painted in Dieppe.

A link (“⇠”) to the artist’s works will appear when published (a “*” indicates that the artist did not work directly in Dieppe, instead worked in nearby villages):

NOTE: You can subscribe to our new articles by entering your email address in the box on the right column (or at the very bottom of this article) and clicking on the button “Subscribe”.

You will need to check your incoming emails and validate your subscription. If you can’t see an email from us, check your Spam folder. Without validating your email address, you will not get notifications from us. WE WILL NEVER GIVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES TO ANYONE!

Related Posts

  • 96
    Dieppe – The Artists – Gonzales, EvaEva Gonzales (1849 – 1883) was a French Impressionist painter. She was born in Paris and became introduced to sophisticated literary and art circles at an early age by her father, writer Emmanuel Gonzales. Here are her works for the city of Dieppe, Normandy.
  • 95
    Dieppe – The Artists – Renoir, Pierre-AugustePierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 – 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. Here are his works for Dieppe and its surroundings in Normandy.
  • 95
    Dieppe – The Artists – Butler, Theodore EarlTheodore Earl Butler, (1861–1936) was an American impressionist painter. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, and moved to Paris to study art. He befriended Claude Monet in Giverny, and married his stepdaughter, Suzanne Hoschedé. After her death he married her sister, Marthe Hoschede. Butler was a founding member of the…
  • 95
    Dieppe – The Artists – Guillaumin, ArmandArmand Guillaumin (1841 – 1927) was a French impressionist painter and lithographer. Born Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin in Paris, he worked at his uncle's lingerie shop while attending evening drawing lessons. He also worked for a French government railway before studying at the Academie Suisse in 1861. There, he met Paul…
  • 95
    Dieppe – The Artists – Korovin, KonstantinKonstantin Alekseyevich Korovin (first name often spelled Constantin- 1861 – 1939) was a leading Russian Impressionist painter. Konstantin was born in Moscow to a merchant family officially registered as "peasants of Vladimir Gubernia". His father, Aleksey Mikhailovich Korovin, earned a university degree and was more interested in arts and music…
Scroll to Top