At first glance, here is a simple gardening scene, and the painting can be thoroughly enjoyed at this straightforward level. It is summer: the vegetation is lush and it is clear that our gardener has planted and tended with love, care and passion. We see him work with delight and patience..There is an additional layer to the painting when it is put into a historical context: it is 1945. The war just ended months ago. There must have been something very strange in the return to normality, which the surrealist Lucien Mathelin is expressing in this painting. The scene feels almost dreamlike.Mathelin was born into a family of artists and received artistic training from childhood. He produced his first oil on canvas at the age of 15 in 1920. In 1924, he exhibited for a first time at the Salon d''Automne, of which he became a member. He traveled to Morocco (1925-1926) and Greece (1933-1934) in search of inspiration and in 1937 worked with Raoul Dufy on the creation of the gigantic painting La F�e �lectricit� .Mathelin had one man shows in France, Germany, the UK, Japan and Italy and exhibited at the Salon Comparaison, The Salon of Young Painting, the Salon des Tuileries, the Paris Biennale, the National Society of Fine Arts and the ''Artist Witnesses of their Time'' exhibition series at the Mus�e Galliera. Works by the artist are notably in the National Museum of Modern art/Centre Georges Pompidou, and in the Museum of Montmartre in Paris as well as in museums in Dallas and G�teborg.Measuring 33 x 41 cm or oil on board is signed at the lower left and dated to the verso. The overall size in a limed oak frame is 48 x 56 cm.Nous parlons fran�ais, und wir sprechen auch Deutsch! Paintings may be viewed in Norwich and in Paris, as well as in London and Cambridge by appointment. Please contact us if you would like further details and images of an artwork.Height is 33cm (13.0inches)
Width is 41cm (16.1inches)
Depth is 1cm (0.4inches)