Duane Alt
b. 1935 | American

Holiday in Nice

Signed “D. Alt” (lower left)
Oil on canvas

The energy and joie de vivre of Nice has been captured in this vibrant oil on canvas by American artist Duane Alt. In this grand canvas, he offers a unique bird’s-eye-view perspective of the city, immersing the viewer in the cosmopolitan world of the French Riviera. In a nod to the French Impressionists, Alt beautifully interprets the scene with brilliant color applied in quick, short brushstrokes, imbuing the canvas with movement and life and reflecting the energy and vibrancy of the city.

Duane Alt was raised in southern California and began his artistic career as a teenager mixing paints for scenery painters at Hollywood film studios. His first formal artistic training was at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles before he traveled to France in the 1960s to study at Sorbonne and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In Paris, he fell under the influence of the Impressionists, and he fully embraced the movement’s spontaneity of brushstroke and brilliant light. Alongside his career as a fine artist, he spent 25 years working in production design and art direction for studios such as MGM, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers, and he even worked as an artist for Walt Disney. His works possess a relatability and broad appeal that have made the artist popular with private collectors worldwide.