Ferdinand du Puigaudeau

Moonlight Scene

Ferdinand du Puigaudeau was born in 1864 in Nantes, France. After receiving a traditional education at various boarding schools, Puigaudeau traveled to Italy and Tunisia in 1882 and learned to paint, as encouraged by his uncle. His earliest works were produced in Brittany in the late 1880s, where he met Paul Gauguin and Charles Laval. After enlistment in military service, Puigaudeau presented one of his works at the Salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he met the Impressionist dealer Durand Ruel in 1890. After a brief time in Venice and a period of financial troubles, Puigaudeau moved into a loaned manor, Kervaudu, in Le Croisic, where he remained isolated and safer during World War I. Puigadeau’s technique involved applying color by various brushstrokes to create a wide range of lighting. He also focused on portraying objects in a structured way, prioritizing detail. His creative light effects are evident in his many paintings of Bretagne depicting Breton women, often by candlelight. Puigaudeau rarely exhibited; his first solo exhibition was in 1903 at the Galerie des Artistes Modernes in Paris. More recently, several of his paintings were featured at the Musée de Vannes in La Cohue to show the golden age of painting in Brittany. His paintings are in various museums, including the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, the Musée Jacobins in Morlaix, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.