Provencal Landscape Poppy Fields Original Oil Painting

Stunning mid 1900-1999 French Expressionist oil painting on canvas. The work depicts this gloriously vibrant and colourful landscape in Provence – we are told by the former owner it represents the Luberon Valley region in Provence, in the fields around Cucuron. We acquired the painting from a private collector in the heart of Provence who had owned the painting for many years. The work is unsigned but very, very close in every respect to the Corsican born artist PIERRE AMBROGIANI (1907-1985) and further research in this direction could be fruitful. Condition and Size: The painting is in good condition. The paint has begun to split in places as one would expect with such thickly applied oil paint. The canvas, unframed is 38cm x 55cm. Pierre Ambrogiani was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, although he was brought up in Marseille, where he continued to live and work for the rest of his life. He was an Expressionist painter of Provençal landscapes, still lifes, and nudes. Entirely self taught, he sustained a long career of over fifty years, with international recognition. He participated in his first major exhibition with a group of fellow Provençal artists in 1936 in Marseille: numerous exhibitions followed, including one in Paris in 1946 and another in New York in 1947. He also illustrated many books, especially those written by his friend Marcel Pagnol, whose works evoked the hard, but lyrical, way of life in Provence in the early twentieth century. In 1973 Pierre Ambrogiani had a major retrospective exhibition at the Musée de la Vielle Charité in Marseille, and died after a long illness in 1985. The sun and colours of Provence were a constant theme throughout his work, coupled with his enduring delight in the bustle and energy of the picturesque old Port of Marseille.