Michel Henry [Zinnias on the Seine] Oil painting, size 20F [framed]

This is a work painted by Michel Henry before 1990 and is included in the art book Michel Henry.

Michel Henry is a painter who mainly paints flowers, and together with Buffet and Brasilier, he is one of the leading painters in the 20th century French art world. His paintings give off a sense of happiness, so he is called the painter of happiness in France, and the king of poppies in America, because he paints many poppies. His transparent colors are likened to jewels. Red is said to be the color of ruby, blue is the color of sawaire, green is the color of emerald, and deep brown is the color of topaz. Michel Henry's paintings are collected by the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Swedish royal family, the Principality of Monaco, the Saudi Arabian royal family, and others. Galerie Adeka has been the sole distributor of Michel Henry in Japan since 1995, planning Michel Henry exhibitions in famous department stores and galleries throughout Japan, producing original prints signed by the artist himself, selling painting prints, and managing copyrights.

Work Description

This painting uses a method of perspective called two-point perspective. It starts with the zinnias in the foreground of the painting, and vanishing points move toward the top left and top right of the canvas. The perspective also stops midway toward a vaguely drawn view of Paris, including Notre Dame Cathedral. It's a painting with a fairly complex composition.

Let's try to identify the Parisian buildings and bridges depicted in this painting. The part hidden in the shadow of the bouquet of zinnias in the foreground is the western edge of the Ile de la Cité. Here, the Seine is divided into right and left sides of the Ile de la Cité. The large water surface depicted on the left side of the painting is the Seine between the Ile de la Cité and the right bank. The water surface on the other left bank of the Seine, which is divided in two by the Ile de la Cité around the shadow of the zinnias, is depicted in light blue as a small stream above the zinnias. A pair of high windows in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral are depicted slightly to the left of the center in the distance. The dome on the left of Notre Dame Cathedral is probably the dome of the Commercial Court on the Ile de Saint-Louis, which is connected to the Ile de la Cité by a bridge. From the foreground, the bridge is the Pont des Arts, which connects the Beaux-Arts (National School of Fine Arts) and the Louvre Museum, the bridge beyond that is the Pont Neuf, and beyond that is the Pont de Change. The dome in front of the Pont Neuf is thought to be that of the Institute of France. The Institute of France is located on the left bank of the Seine, but from this position only the dome-shaped roof can be seen, like part of the Île de la Cité.

In order to fit both sides of the Seine, split by the Ile de la Cité, into the canvas, the artist used a tricky method of two-point perspective, which he succeeded brilliantly. The petals of the zinnias are painted in rose to violet colors. Rose and violet are intermediate colors between red and blue, and blend easily with the landscape, which is dominated by blue tones. Michel Henry often juxtaposes flowers with the landscape to highlight the beauty of the flowers, but in this painting he has painted the flowers in muted colors, as if they were part of the landscape. That is how enchanted he must have been by the landscape.

Gallery Adeka Yasuhiro Takeda