SÉBIRE GASTON

(1920-2001)

Gaston Sébire, born in Saint-Samson, Normandy, in 1920, is recognized as one of France’s leading landscape and marine painters. Sébire was silent and solitary by nature, with a personality as strong and frank as his paintings. Self-taught, he had his first exhibition in 1952 and the following year earned both the Prix de la Critique and the Prix Casa Velazquez, which allowed him to spend eighteen months studying in Spain, free of financial concerns for the first time.

In a 1991 interview with the French magazine Le Courrier des Galeries, Gaston Sébire discussed his early love of poetry and music and his fascination with the sea. He was a true Norman and was also strongly attached to the soil. After successful Paris exhibitions, he returned to Rouen to his large house overlooking the town to plunge himself again into painting.

Wally Findlay Galleries brought Sébire’s work to America during the late 1950s. Since, he was recognized as the official painter for the Ministry of the Navy of France and was knighted by the French government with the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Merite. He exhibited in all the important salons of Paris but remained fiercely loyal to his native Normandy, where he lived.

A talented, independent, and productive painter, Sébire is recognized today as one of the premier Post-Impressionists from the famed l’École de Rouen and a master of plein-air painting. Sébire’s eloquent paintings revolve around the song of the earth, the beautiful landscapes, seascapes, and villages where life is imbued with blue skies, light winds, colorful regattas, and afternoons in the garden or by the seashore. His works bridge the gap between the traditional and the modern, with straightforward representations becoming luscious expressionistic works.

“As a child, I could spend hours watching its majestic motion, the range of its colors, hearing its invitation to ‘come away.’ – Gaston Sébire