Little girl with flowers 

Oil on canvas, circa 1880

Dimensions:   26.5 x 35 cm

With frame: 86 x 74.5 cm  

The painter represents a delicately painted young girl.

The child stares at the viewer. The atmosphere is summery: she is represented with a large bouquet of field flowers and an elegant straw hat decorated with a ribbon.

The painter's gesture is lively; his subject, quickly painted, with a removed touch.

Gustave Colin paints portraits, landscapes of Parisian life and typical scenes of Mediterranean folklore. Its colors are warm; his paste, free, strong and largely brushed, brings daring to his paintings.

He was a pupil of Constant Dutilleux in Arras then of Ary Scheffer, Thomas Couture and Camille Corot in Paris, of whom he will keep a strong impression.

He began his career at the Salon of 1857. He received several awards, including the gold medal in 1900.

In 1863, he exhibited at the Salon des Refusés alongside Manet, who unveiled for the occasion his famous painting, Lunch on the Grass .  

In 1874, the painter participated in the first exhibition of the Impressionists, he exhibited five paintings. Happy to have learned and impatient to pass on, he is a professor at the Académie Julian in Paris.

Although originally from the North of France, he lived in the Basque country which inspired him many paintings.