Léon Germain Pelouse

Who was Léon Germain Pelouse?

Léon Germain Pelouse was a French painter born in Pierrelaye. He was a self taught artist. At sixteen, he began working as traveling salesman, realising his first painting, when he was twenty, as he was serving in the French army as a conscript. He really began professional painting at twenty-seven, exposing his first work, Les Environs de Précy, at the Salon de Paris of 1865. Despite severe criticism, he continued painting. He moved to Britanny, there, inspired by nature around Pont-Aven and Rochefort-en-Terre, Pelouse realised landscapes which were exhibited at the Salon de Paris in the following years. He received his first medal, in 1873, for Vallée de Cernay. He finally gained success and critics' approval. The French government bought many of his canvas which are now property of several French museums, like Musée d'Orsay, Musée Malraux, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, etc.