Achille LAUGÉ (1861-1944) - Lot 179

Achille LAUGÉ (1861-1944) Road near Cailhau, 1923 Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right. 54 x 73 cm Born into a farming family, Laugé abandoned his studies in pharmacy in favor of the Toulouse School of Fine Arts, where he became friends with Antoine Bourdelle, before continuing his apprenticeship in Paris and sharing Aristide Maillol's studio. In 1886, at the Salon des Indépendants, Laugé discovered Georges Seurat's manifesto painting Un dimanche après-midi à l'île de la Grande Jatte, a real revelation for him. In 1892, back in Carcassonne, he converted to pure divided color. By the end of the decade, his stippled style had evolved into a more flochety touch, still in pure color. Settling permanently in his village of Cailhau, Laugé tirelessly depicts the perspectives of the roads leading to the village. He rode his studio cart in search of new compositions and luminous variations. In our highly original painting, executed in 1923, the strong sunlight hardens the lines of the road and saturates the colors: the sky is almost ultramarine and, thanks to a vibrant brushstroke, the rapeseed and tree foliage flicker in the air, as if powdered with gold.