Renè Seyssaud Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

René Seyssaud (1867-1952) is one of the most emblematic Provençal painters of the period between 1880 and 1910. A forerunner of the Fauve movement, like Armand Guillaumin for example, he was a member of the New School of Avignon. Read the full biography

René Seyssaud (1867-1952) is one of the most emblematic Provençal painters of the period between 1880 and 1910. A forerunner of the Fauve movement, like Armand Guillaumin for example, he was a member of the New School of Avignon. He was born in 1867 in Marseille, where his father was a lawyer. Having enrolled him in the Fine Arts, upon his death, René joined his grandparents in Avignon where he had Pierre Grivolas as his teacher. He was known for his powerful temperament and his bold palette with bright colors, making him a precursor of Fauvism. His first major exhibition took place in 1892 at the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. He then inaugurated the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Tuileries. His marriage, in 1899, gave him the opportunity to settle in Villes-sur-Auzon, where he chose Mont Ventoux and the Nesque gorges as his pictorial themes. But suffering from tuberculosis, his doctors advised him to move closer to the sea and in 1904 he moved to Saint-Chamas, where his studio overlooked the Etang de Berre. He was appointed officer of the Legion of Honor and died in Saint-Chamas in 1952.1