Maurice Pigeon (1883–1944) – Norman Interior

Maurice Pigeon (1883–1944)
In front of the hearth, Norman interior (Cotentin)

Oil on canvas, signed lower left
50 × 54 cm

Born in Cherbourg on December 29, 1883, the most decisive episode in the life of Maurice Pigeon was the accident that deprived him of the use of one eye: while playing in his mother’s shop, around the age of three it is said, he violently struck his head against the corner of a table. Despite intensive care provided in Paris, he was unable to recover the use of his eye, and to compound his misfortune he contracted infectious meningitis, which left him deaf and mute. Severely disabled, he was able throughout his life to communicate with others only through writing and drawing.

His preferred subjects were landscapes, particularly the coastlines of the English Channel, from La Hague Point to the Bay of Morsalines, an area he traveled for years by bicycle.
In the summer, friends hosted him in the vicinity of Saint-Vaast; passing tourists, charmed by his painting, carried his works as far as the south of France, while enthusiasts from the Cotentin rediscovered in his drawings, pastels, and canvases familiar sites that he knew how to illuminate with strength and a lively brushwork.