Ernest Rouart

Schiena felina

Biography of the Artist Ernest Rouart (1874–1942) was a French Impressionist painter and engraver. The son of Henri Rouart (1833–1912), an industrialist, painter and close friend of Degas, he grew up surrounded by masterpieces of Corot, Courbet, Manet, Morisot and Gauguin. Originally trained in mathematics, he soon abandoned this path to study painting under the rare guidance of Edgar Degas, who insisted on drawing and the Old Masters as a foundation. Rouart first exhibited at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1899, later joining the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon des Tuileries and the committee of the Salon d’Automne. In 1900 he married Julie Manet, daughter of Berthe Morisot and niece of Édouard Manet, thus entering one of the most emblematic Impressionist families. Alongside his painting—intimate scenes of family life, gardens and portraits rendered with softened contours and joyful colours—Rouart played a decisive role as a custodian of Impressionism. He organised major retrospectives: Manet’s Centenary at the Musée de l’Orangerie (1932), a Degas retrospective (1934) and an exhibition on Berthe Morisot (1941). Together with Julie Manet, he enriched French museums with important donations to the Louvre and the Musée de l’Orangerie. Rouart’s works are today preserved in the National Gallery of Art, Washington and in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as in notable private collections.