Paul Mathieu artwork • painting • for sale Boulevard in Sainte-Adresse, France

aul Mathieu was a Belgian painter and watercolourist who was best known for his landscapes, city and harbor views. He worked a lot in the Kempen and on the Belgian coast. He also painted interiors and still lifes. He was widely known for his beautiful post-impressionist representation of light and the use of pearly white that gave his work a 'soft' expression. After completing the École Normale d'Art in Brussels, where he trained in drawing and learned to marble wood, he became a teacher at the Academy of Brussels until his death in 1932. With his friend, the painter Alfred Bastien, he closed joined the Brussels art circle 'Le Sillon', which opposed any form of art ending in -ism. During the First World War, Mathieu lived and worked in Paris and the surrounding area, where he mainly made French cityscapes that were distinguished by their beautiful light. In 1913, Bastien and Mathieu were commissioned by the Ministry of Colonies to create the gigantic 'Panorama of the Belgian Congo', a canvas of 15 m high and with a circumference of 150 m, for the World Exhibition in Ghent. Mathieu painted the landscape – as a true plein air painter he paid little attention to people in his work – and Bastion the figures.