"An Animated Quay in Martigues, France"
Raymond Allègre (France, 1857-1933)
Circa 1890s
Oil on wood panel
Signed lower right
17 3/4 x 12 1/2 (22 1/2 x 17 frame) inches
 
The saturated light of the Mediterranean gives the painting jewel tones of color and big azure sky.  The figures are depicted in the loose brushwork, Impressionistic style. 
 
Painter of the landscapes of Provence, Raymond Allègre is also an orientalist painter having trained at the School of Fine Arts in Marseille and he continued his artistic training at the École des beaux-arts de Paris.  
 
He began his professional career at age 18 painting landscapes of the Paris region and Normandy from 1875 later returning to Provence where he painted Martigues, Monaco and its surroundings. Allegre exhibited at the prestigious Salon in Paris from 1880 to 1932 winning numerous prizes and with the State buying his paintings for the national collections. In 1900, he was selected to paint the decoration of the Le Train bleu restaurant at the Gare de Lyon in Paris. By 1903, he was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.  
 
Raymond Allègre showed at the Paris Salon des Artistes Français, 1883, 1887, 1927 as well as numerous other major exhibitions. 
 
Paintings can be found in the following collections:
Musée d'Aix-en-Provence; Musée de Roanne; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen; Musée de Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse.