Painting | Level 2
Roger Limouse

La Table Plante, 1954, Oil on Canvas, Roger Limouse © the copyright holder. Photo credit: Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, art collection.

This work has been in the collection at the hospital since the 1980's, however it was recently discovered that it had been credited under the wrong name due to a misinterpretation of the signature! The true artist's name was uncovered when the painting was removed from the wall for a condition check.

We now know that the painting is by famous French artist Roger Marcel Limouse, who is recognised as the last great painter of ‘Fauvism’ – a movement known for its use of bold colours and simplified form. We can see the influence of this in his painting. The use of bright red is very characteristic of the style too.

As well as being a Fauvist, Limouse is also famous for his illustrations of French poet Charles Baudelaire’s work, ‘The Flowers of Evil’ (Les Fleurs du Mal).

In 1919, he settled in Paris and married Jeanne Laillard, artist-painter, in 1937. They spent their time between Paris and Morocco – and we can see evidence of the influence of rich Moroccan colours and warm sun in this work.

In 1940, during the occupation of France, Limouse gained the confidence of Coco Chanel who encouraged his work and became his patron. He was also admired by important figures in the French Resistance for his ‘struggle against barbarity’.

In 1987 the Duke of Westminster inaugurated the ‘Limouse Flowers of Evil Museum’ at Chester in the presence of the artist aged 93.

Roger Marcel Limouse was a French painter, born in Algeria in1894, died in Paris in 1989.

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