Louis Marie Désiré-Lucas (1869-1949) - The Red Sails

Louis Marie Désiré-Lucas (1869-1949)
The Red Sails
Oil on canvas
50 x 65 cm
Désiré-Lucas was born to a Breton father, a naval commissioner, Louis Marie Alexandre Lucas, born in Plabennec, and a Creole mother, born Marie-Louise Jaham Desrivaux (a family of békés). The family moved to Brest in 1871.
His first work was La Jeune Ouessantine (1886), oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm, housed at the Brest Museum of Fine Arts. The model was Marie-Hélène Malgorn, born in Ouessant in 1879.
In 1889, he received a scholarship from the city of Brest, which allowed him to enter the Académie Julian in Paris, where he studied under William Bouguereau, Tony Robert-Fleury, and Jules Joseph Lefebvre. He was then admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He made his debut at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1893 with portraits of women, receiving an honorable mention in 1897, a 3rd-class medal in 1898, a 2nd-class medal in 1899, and a 1st-class medal as a lithographer in 1909.
He settled in Vannes with his wife Marguerite, née Philippe, and devoted himself to reproducing scenes of Breton life. His submissions to the Salons of 1897 (La Tricoteuse), 1898 (Conte de la Grand'mère), and 1900 (Le Vœu du petit bateau) were noted, although the colors were considered too dark. He then lightened his palette. On February 6, 1900, his third child, Maurice Désiré-Lucas, was born, a future post-impressionist landscape painter. Winner of the bronze medal at the 1900 World's Fair, he received a travel grant the following year, and the French government purchased Bénédicité (Paris, Musée d'Orsay), then L'Homme des champs (The Manor of the Fields) in 1903. He left Vannes for Belz, and charmed by the place, he settled in 1907 at the Kerbervet manor in Ploaré. He was drafted to Amiens during the First World War.
Désiré-Lucas was influenced by the painting of Paul Cézanne. He worked in series, painting the same subjects with different color schemes depending on the light.
Winner of the 1910 Rosa-Bonheur Prize, in 1920, he began work on coastal landscapes on the Côte d'Azur, in Spain, Italy, and on Belle-Île-en-Mer. In August 1922, he stayed in Ouessant with his student Marie Réol and brought back a series of studies.
He also explored the lively old neighborhoods of Douarnenez to study its inhabitants. He became friends with Paul Abram, and the two painted in Les Plomarc'h. Désiré-Lucas produced numerous paintings there, including a series of Plomarc'h Beech Groves. The originality of his style was affirmed and characterized by the fiery dynamism of his brushstrokes and the use of a vivid palette.
He also traveled to the Cap Sizun and Confort region, where he focused on forgiveness. Later, the Crozon peninsula became his favorite destination. He stayed with Marie Réol in Camaret-sur-Mer from 1928. During the interwar period, this place was a meeting place for many artists.

In 1929, he presented the paintings Portrait of Madame Aletti and The Bay of Douarnenez at the Salon of French Artists.
A few years after the death of his wife Marguerite, he married Marie Réol in 1942. World War II and then illness immobilized him in Kerbervet.
Désiré-Lucas received a medal of honor at the 1936 Salon. He was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France in 1943, in the seat of Jacques-Émile Blanche, but did not deliver his acceptance speech until May 8, 1946.
Public collections:
Paris, Musée d'Orsay: The Blessing, circa 1901, oil on canvas
Quimper, Musée des Beaux-Arts: The Procession, 1909, oil on canvas. Brest, Museum of Fine Arts:
Péronne, Alfred-Danicourt Museum:
Valparaíso, Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Valparaíso:
Vannes, Cohue Museum: The Port of Cam