Master Art

The strong structure and free brush strokes of La
Cathédrale d'Auxerre reveal the techniques the artist learned first-hand from Gauguin as well as his debt to Sisley and Pissarro. In 1890, after a period of pointillist experimentation, Loiseau moved to Pont-Aven where he
re-found his pure landscape ideal painting in a Post-Impressionist manner directly from nature. He had a particular interest in the depiction of water within a landscape, exemplified by this painting. With a contract from Durand-Ruel, Loiseau was free to travel extensively in France, painting in Burgundy - as presented here in Auxerre's Gothic tour de force - in the Dordogne, Dieppe and on the banks of the Seine.

Loiseau painted the Seine as it ran through Paris, Herblay, Marly-le-Roi and Triel as well as its tributaries, especially the Yonne from Auxerre onwards. His canvases reveal an interest in depicting the effects of rain, frost, fog, morning mist and overcast skies with the clouds filtering the rays of sun. In order to create a more melancholy landscape he always avoided the intense and vibrant light found in the work of the Impressionists.