Paul-Elie Gernez

Le Havre – The Artists – Gernez, Paul-Elie

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

Paul-Elie Gernez
Paul-Elie Gernez

Movement(s): Cubism

Paul-Elie Gernez born in Onnaing on January 27, 1888 and died in Honfleur on September 6, 1948 is a French painter, watercolourist, engraver and illustrator.

Paul-Elie Gernez let himself be tempted at the start of his career by Cubism, then returned to a more classical figuration, to the landscape, to still life, to seascapes, to still lifes of flowers.

He mainly draws his inspiration from Honfleur where he stays there a lot. He quickly understands that he found there what he was looking for: calm, a job that allows him to live, but gives him time to paint and above all that estuary atmosphere so loved by Eugene Boudin.

Gernez works a lot and wants to accomplish his “ranges” every day by making many drawings. In the same spirit, he produces two to four watercolors per day. He works from nature: nudes, still lifes and landscapes. Gernez divides his time between Paris and Honfleur, which he never leaves for long. In 1923, he was named Knight of the Legion of Honor.

In 1942, illness forced him to rest. His pace slows down, but he continues to work. After a serious operation in 1946, Gernez passed away in 1948 in Honfleur.

Click here to read his bio on Wikipedia (in French only)

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

1910 - Paul-Elie Gernez - Border of the Seine, around Le Havre
1910 – Paul-Elie Gernez – Border of the Seine, around Le Havre

Paul-Elie Gernez painted most of his life in Normandy, but he did manage to visit some other parts of France. Here are all the places we’ve found where he painted (a link “⇠” to his works will appear when published):

Here are the painters/artists who painted in Le Havre (a “*” indicates that the artist did not worked directly in Le Havre itself, instead worked closeby, a link “” to the artist’s works will appear below when published):

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

  • 92
    Le Havre – The Artists – Braque, GeorgesGeorge Braque (1882 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he played in the development of Cubism. Braque's work is closely associated with that of his colleague Pablo Picasso. Here are his paintings for Le…
  • 91
    Le Havre – The Artists – Noel, Jules AchilleJules Achille Noël, born Louis Assez Noël (1815-1881) was a French landscape and maritime painter who worked primarily in Brittany and Normandy. His style was compared to Eugène Isabey and he won the praise of Baudelaire. Here are his works dealing with the city of Le Havre.
  • 91
    Le Havre - The Artists - Loir, LuigiLuigi Loir, a French painter and lithographer, born in Austria. He amongst other illustrated one of Jules Verne's book. Here are two of his works dealing with Le Havre.
  • 91
    Le Havre – The Artists – Guerard, HenriHenri Charles Guerard (1846 - 1897) was a French painter, engraver, lithographer and printer. He was born and died in Paris. He married in 1879 to Eva Gonzales, painter, student, model and friend of Manet. Not much else is known about this artist. Here are his etchings he made of…
  • 91
    Le Havre - The Artists - Beggrov, AlexanderAlexander Beggrov, a Russian artist/painter, who travelled all over the world for the Russian Navy. He only painted one painting in Le Havre.
Scroll to Top