Claude Firmin

The Meal , dated 1899
Oil on panel
Signed and dated lower right
Dimensions: 46 x 55cm
With frame : 69 x 78 cm
Price upon request

“Claude Firmin, the striking painter of interiors crossed by a reflection of the sun or flushed with a forge fire” , in “Mémoires de l’Académie de Vaucluse”, 1919, p. 15

Claude Firmin exhibits at the Parisian Salons. His paintings are noticed, some are acquired by the State. The interior scenes have the greatest success: he attaches importance to the lighting and the atmosphere, which he restores with accuracy.

Here, it represents one of his favorite subjects. This interior scene brings together a family around a lunch. The sons and the father are sitting at the table, the mother is standing and pouring water into a dish. The soup, placed on the table, smokes in the plates, the light crosses the vapor and fixes the silent atmosphere of the moment of the meal. The heads are pricked towards the plate.

The light, which enters against the light in the opulent interior, cuts the silhouette of the protagonists. The interior is dressed according to the taste of the South of France: family furniture, up to the dining table and the sausages suspended from the ceiling, the painter restores the typical interior with realism.

Claude Firmin said Goy (the “lame” in Provençal) is a painter from the south of France. He shares his studies and his life between Avignon and Paris, at 54 rue de Seine in the 6th arrondissement. In the capital, he frequented the studio of Léon Bonnat, whom the master nicknamed “my best pupil”.

Thereafter, he continued his studies at the Beaux-Arts in Avignon, where he was appointed professor, then director of the school. The town hall of Avignon retains on its walls the frescoes commissioned by the town hall. Painter and teacher emeritus, he was named Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1937 and won numerous prizes, including the drawing prize from the Calvet museum.

Museums:

• Calvet Museum (“Portrait of Noël Biret, master ironworker”), Louis Vouland Museum

Bibliography:

• “Didot-Bottin trade directory, 1909”, Paris, Didot-Bottin, 1909, p. 303

• “Memoirs of the Historical Institute of Provence, 1924–1949”, Volume 1, Marseille, Historical Headquarters of Provence, 1927, p. 121

• “Memoirs of the Académie de Vaucluse, 1882-1949, year 1919” Volume XIX, Avignon, Dominique Seguin Printer-Editor, 1919, p. 15