Gustave Vidal, Fishermen on the Rocks, 1930s, Oil Painting, Framed

Gustave Vidal.
French ( b.1895 - d.1966 ).
Pêcheurs Sur Les Rochers. Bord De Mer En Côte d'Azur.
Oil On Panel.
Signed Lower Right.
Image size 12.4 inches x 15.6 inches ( 31.5cm x 39.5cm ).
Frame size 22.2 inches x 26 inches ( 56.5cm x 66cm ).

This original oil painting is by the French artist Gustave Vidal and dates from around 1935.
The painting is presented and supplied in its original frame. The original cotton slip has been replaced with a sympathetic contemporary slip that is in keeping with the fresh coastal aesthetic of the painting (which is shown in these photographs).
This antique painting is in a good condition. It wants for nothing and is supplied ready to hang and display.
The painting is signed lower right.

Gustave Vidal was a 20th century French artist, and one of the best Provencal landscapers of his generation. He worked in the Provencal and Basque regions as well as Corsica and the centre of France.
He was born in Avignon in 1895, in the Provence region of France, and died in the same town in 1966.
Vidal trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Avignon. It is often reported that he studied under Pierre Grivolas, (1823-1906) who was a prominent teacher there who had encouraged plein air painting to capture light and colour directly from nature. However, Grivolas died when Vidal was only 9 or 10, so it is very unlikely that there was a direct teacher/student relationship between them in a formal apprenticeship or atelier setting. Pierre Grivolas had been a director of the École des Beaux-Arts in Avignon until his death in 1906, and found what became known as the Nouvelle école d’Avignon, promoting outdoor practice and modern landscape painting. Grivolas influenced a generation of Provençal painters directly, and his teachings persisted after his death. Vidal therefore studied in the establishment that continued his ethos and would have been influenced by Grivolas’ directorship.
Vidal won numerous awards at the Beaux-Arts in Avignon and became a sociétaire (member) of the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris, an important exhibition venue for French artists of the period. He actually wrote the articles of association for this establishment. As well as exhibiting in Avignon and Paris Vidal also exhibited in Berlin and Brussels.
Vidal was primarily a landscape and marine painter. His work is associated with Provencal scenes — including rural landscapes, village streets, harbours, seascapes, and views of the French Riviera and interior France.
His technique combined impasto application with both palette knife and brush, reflecting influences from Impressionism and post-Impressionist colourism encountered during his career, especially in Paris. This gives his canvases a textured, lively surface and strong sense of light and atmosphere. His works typically show rich colour and balanced composition, with evocative French light.
Nowadays Vidal’s paintings appear regularly in antique galleries, auctions, and online sales in Europe and beyond, though he’s not commonly featured in major public museums or standard art history encyclopaedias. Auction results indicate steady interest among collectors of regional French painting, with prices varying according to size and subject.
Although not among the most famous French painters of his generation, Gustave Vidal holds a solid place within early-to-mid-20th-century Provence painting, continuing the regional tradition of light, colour, and landscape that followed Impressionism, and appealing to contemporary collectors of Provençal and southern French art.

This stunning original oil on hardwood panel by Gustave Vidal depicts a summer’s day on the Cote d’Azur. Two young men are fishing from a large flat rock. One is standing, looking out to sea, wearing a shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a dark waistcoat. His companion is seated on the rock with his long fishing rod dangling in the blue waters of the sea. He is wearing a white vest top and wide brimmed straw hat. Along the bay we glimpse the warm stone-coloured buildings of a small town scattered along the shoreline, with majestic hills rising behind. The sea sparkles with a multitude of blues, catching the sunlight and reflecting the blue sky above. This is a delightfully positive and engaging piece, of happy times spent in casual pleasures.