July 14th in Marseille - Marius BARRET (1865-1929)

Marius BARRET (1865-1929)

Marius Barret was born into a family of craftsmen in Marseille in 1865.
Attracted to drawing from an early age, he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, where he was a pupil of Dominique-Antoine Magaud, Raphaël Collin and Jean-Baptiste Olive.
The diversity of his training led the young Marius to develop a personal style combining precision of line and pictorial sensitivity.

A painter of portraits and Provencal landscapes, Marius Barret also distinguished himself as a wood engraver and etcher.

His career was marked by official recognition: in 1923 he received an honorable mention, and in 1928 a silver medal at the Salon des Artistes Français.
He exhibited at the Exposition du Livre d'Art in Paris and at the Exposition de la Société artistique de la gravure sur bois.

His work reflects a subtle balance between academic heritage and an openness to modern trends, halfway between realism and impressionism.

In this luminous gouache, Marius Barret captures the magic of fireworks over Marseille's Old Port.
His vivid, fragmented brushstrokes make the surface of the water and sky sparkle, with a myriad of moving points of light.
The pure, bright colors, juxtaposed without mixing, evoke popular wonder and take us back to the beginnings of Divisionism and Pointillism.
The crowd, rendered in dark silhouettes, contrasts with the vibrant clarity of garlands and rockets.

The artist is both precise in his construction of space, and bold in his use of color and brushstrokes to convey popular life and wonder.