Rating and value of works, drawings, paintings by Gen Paul

A self-taught French painter, Gen Paul (1895-1975) established himself as an influential figure on the Paris art scene. Associated with the Expressionist movement as well as the School of Paris, Gen Paul stood out for his bold and skillful use of color and light. Very present on the art market, the artist maintains a high valuation.

If you own a work by or based on the artist Gen Paul and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers will guide you.

Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its value on the current market.

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Artist's rating and value

By their unique style, Gen Paul's works meet with great success with collectors. On the market, their quotations remain stable and high overall, although certain categories of work, such as paintings from the 1920s, are among the artist's most prized.

75% of Gen Paul's sales take place in France, and 62% of lots are sold in the painting category. In 2024, his price rose by 4%.

Some of the artist's works can fetch hundreds of thousands of euros at auction, as evidenced by his painting The Guitar Player, which fetched €140,000 at Artcurial in 2008.Order of value from the most basic to the most prestigious

The artist's works and style

AGen Paul, a key figure in Art Brut and French Expressionism, develops a style that draws on raw, instinctive gestures, where the violence of the line mingles with the density of color.

Initially influenced by academic art and the early discoveries of Impressionism, his work quickly evolved into a radical break with the artistic conventions of his time.

Far from the traditional canons, he forged a singular visual language in which form and color, in perpetual confrontation, free themselves from realist constraints to express the turbulence of the human soul.

His technique, all boldness and spontaneity, calls for powerful brushstrokes and intense use of color, often pure and contrasting, which envelops the subjects in raw energy.

The drawing, often spontaneous and vibrant, is an essential feature of his work, which he executes without traditional academic mastery, but with a rare emotional intensity.

Gen Paul favors expressive compositions, where the interaction between artist and material seems to embody an inner confrontation, an exploration of the unconscious that translates into deformed human figures and tormented landscapes.

Through his canvases, he bears witness to an era in search of meaning, while seeking to render the power of individual experience through a radical, visceral technique.

Gen Paul, his life, his work 

Eugène Paul, known as Gen Paul, was born in 1895 in Montmartre. From an early age, Gen Paul showed a keen interest in art, drawing and painting with passion.

Apprentice to an upholsterer, then trained in the decorative arts, the young artist officially launched his career after the First World War.

In the early 1920s, Gen Paul exhibited his work for the first time at the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants.

His artistic style, characterized by vivid colors, bold use of light and expressive forms, attracted the attention of critics and the public alike. At the same time, the artist was rubbing shoulders with renowned artists such as Camille Pissarro.

Contrary to the works of expressionist artists, Gen Paul's work is cheerful, full of optimism and showing an interest in the simplicity of everyday life. Nevertheless, the artist experienced a depression in the 30s, which had an impact on his art. The Second World War marked a pause in Gen Paul's career. Mobilized and then taken prisoner, the artist could only manage to draw the daily life and atrocity of the War.

During his captivity, Gen Paul befriended writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline. The two friends collaborated a few years later.

After his release, Gen Paul returned to Paris and resumed his art with determination.

In his lifetime, Gen Paul enjoyed a certain notoriety. Indeed, the artist regularly exhibited in France and abroad. Gen Paul died in Paris in 1975, leaving behind a great artistic legacy.

Focus on Gen Paul, Le combat

Gen Paul's work Le Combat perfectly illustrates his ability to capture inner violence, while offering a striking reflection on human tensions. Through the use of color and form, he renders visible the intensity of confrontation.

The distorted, often intertwined bodies are neither distinct nor fixed, as if seeking to escape the canvas while remaining prisoners of the impulse that drives them. The palette, composed of warm, vivid tones, accentuates the brutal aspect of the combat, but also the suffering that ensues.

The artist doesn't just suggest the action; he turns it into a whirlwind, a tangle of dynamic forms that seem to overflow, refusing to submit to the rules of academic perspective.

The artist's gestures, while imbued with a certain spontaneity, are not devoid of precision. Every brushstroke appears to be a deliberate act, a necessary move, orchestrated to make the violence of the battle palpable.

The use of chiaroscuro, reinforced by sharp contrasts, allows Gen Paul to play with light and shadow, adding a dramatic and psychological dimension to the scene. We are shown not only the physical confrontation, but also the emotional intensity of this face-to-face encounter.

In this work, each movement seems to crystallize into a fixed dynamic, inviting us to question what is beyond form, beyond the body.

Gen Paul's imprint on his period

Gen Paul's imprint on his period is distinguished by a radical approach, with unprecedented expressive power, that refuses to compromise.

Coming from an era beset by social and political upheaval, notably the devastating consequences of the First World War, the artist asserts himself with a raw, unvarnished vision of human reality.

Through his deformed figures and dark color palette, he seeks not to embellish or soften existence, but to capture its brutality, suffering and chaos.

His drawing becomes incisive, his incisive forms and often disfigured figures reveal the anguish that haunts the human soul. Far from the traditional and academic canons, he defies artistic conventions by introducing an aesthetic violence that translates inner turmoil.

He's not afraid to show pain and decay, making his painting poignant and raw. His work thus bears witness to the fragility of the human being, to a devastated era, while offering a vision of art that refuses to be aestheticized.

Far from a quest for ideal beauty, Gen Paul inscribes his art in an exploration of naked truth, of the human being in his abysses, through a stripped-down technique, but with a striking strength, which makes him a privileged witness to the heartbreak of his time.

Gen Paul's stylistic influences

Gen Paul's stylistic influences are evident in his frank and uncompromising approach to human reality, often perceived through the prism of suffering and violence.

Like his contemporaries such as Georges Rouault and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, he stands out for his willingness to break with convention and capture the intensity of human emotions.

However, where Rouault opts for a more religious and mystical representation of the human condition, Gen Paul chooses a more brutal, almost clinical expression. In his drawings, the distortion of forms seems to amplify the sense of decay and anguish, while referring to a reality devastated by war and social violence.

Compared to artists like Otto Dix or Max Oppenheimer, Gen Paul takes a similar approach in his critique of society, but his more nervous and expressive lines convey an almost palpable inner violence.

The imprint of Fauvism is also felt in his choice of colors, vivid and contrasting, which accentuate the drama of his scenes and the torment of his characters.

These influences, while present, don't prevent him from expanding his own visual language, blending social criticism with a more subjective, intimate approach to the individual.

Gen Paul doesn't just reflect society in his works, but seeks to tear the veil of reality to extract a naked truth, often disturbing and unvarnished.

This refusal of complacency, this willingness to confront humanity in its rawest dimension, places the artist in a position of both observer and denouncer, between a personal work and a reflection on the times that shaped him.

His signature

Not all of Gen Paul's works are signed.

Although there are variations, here's a first example of his signature:

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