Edouard Léon Cortès
1882-1969 | French

Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle

Signed “Edouard Cortès” (lower right)
Oil on canvas

French Post-Impressionist artist Edouard Léon Cortès captures one of the grand boulevards of Paris in this extraordinary oil on canvas. The subject is the Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, an iconic Parisian thoroughfare that bustles with activity and vibrancy. Cortès perfectly evokes the vitality of the urban landscape at dusk, with the busy street and stylish pedestrians awash in the warm glow of lantern light and the setting sun.

Renowned for his vibrant canvases that capture the elegance and magic of The City of Lights, Cortès devoted his career to bringing the spectacle de la rue to life on canvas. His paintings express the romance and energy of a bygone Paris, and the fashionable boulevards of La Belle Époque have forever been immortalized in his oeuvre. Dubbed the “Parisian Poet of Painting,” Cortès possessed the uncanny ability to portray the very essence of his beloved city throughout the passing seasons and years. Though he painted the same streets time and time again, each work is unique in its narrative, perspective and atmosphere.

Raised in a prolific artistic environment, Cortès was an avid student of both his father, French painter Antonio Cortès and his older brother, Andre. The young artist was greatly influenced by his father and other famous artists who flocked to the picturesque town of Langly where Cortès was born. Maximilian Luce, Camille Pissaro and Lucien Pissaro, among other celebrities of the Impressionist period, were personal friends of the family and the young Cortès flourished in this rich artistic environment, though he developed a remarkably independent style. Cortès exhibited his first work in 1899 at the Société des Artistes Français in Paris where he was met with excellent reviews. In 1901, he began painting scenes of Paris and he went on to exhibit in the great venues of Paris and later in America and Canada, earning great admiration from his peers, patrons and critics. Today, Cortès continues to be lauded as one of the great Impressionist painters of the Belle Époque, and collectors increasingly seek his unmistakable work.

20th Century