Rating and value of paintings by Louis Hayet

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Rating and value of the artist Louis Hayet

Considered one of France's leading post-impressionist painters, Louis Hayet enjoyed a certain notoriety on the market during his lifetime. After his death, his value fell slightly, before rising and stabilizing in recent years.

Mostly present on the French, American and Venezuelan markets, the artist has established himself as a rising star on the art market.

A work signed by him can fetch around a hundred thousand euros at auction. His oil on canvas Au café,dating from 1887/88, went for €171,450 in 2017, while it was estimated at between €16,000 and €22,000.  

Order of value from the most basic to the most prestigious

Style and technique of artist Louis Hayet  

Louis Hayet (1864 - 1940) was a post-Impressionist artist active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was a practitioner of neo-Impressionism but also of pointillism : that is, he applied small touches or dots of pure color, creating a vibration typical of the movement.

It was only after 1890 that he partially abandoned pointillism in order to move towards a more classical, tonal style, closer to Impressionism.

During his career, Hayet used specific pictorial techniques. Influenced by Seurat, Signac and Picasso, he played with the scientific application of color and Chevreul's theory of contrasts.

He works outdoors, emphasizing immediacy, light and atmospheric effects, bringing his work closer to Impressionism. The media he uses are varied, and all techniques are explored (oil on canvas or paper, watercolor and encaustic (hot wax)).

Louis Hayer's compositions are in search of a luminous and atmospheric rendering. Through the juxtaposition of colored touches, his landscapes such as Banks of the Oise at Dawn (1888) exude a tender, vibrant light.

The contrast is rhythmic and his palette (pink, orange, blue and green) brings morning skies and cityscapes to life. He infuses his compositions with a personal vision and a certain sense of innovation, modulating his canvases between rigor and freedom.

His pointillist style, which is based on scientific rules, remains nuanced by a fluid, airy personal touch.

In addition to painting, he publishes an innovative color chart and acts as a pigment researcher, also taking an interest in pictorial conservation.

The life of Louis Hayet

Louis Hayet (1864 - 1940) was a French artist born into a modest family in Pontoise. At a very young age, he accompanied his father, a house painter, on his travels around the provinces, which introduced him to drawing and painting.

Autodidact, he learned to draw by studying, in particular, Armand Cassagne's Traité d'aquarelle, and very early on developed a passion for color and atmospheric effects.

In the 1880s, he met Camille Pissarro and his son Lucien in Pontoise, and soon afterwards Seurat and Signac, who were to exert a major influence on his work. He became close to Seurat, with whom he especially shared the division of tones.

His participation in the Neo-Impressionist movement was fairly brief, with highly personal pointillist works. He exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants from 1889, including at Place de la Concorde, and his work was praised by Félix Fénéon.

He turned away from Neo-Impressionism in 1890, gradually isolating himself and adopting a freer, more tonal style. During this period, he made a modest living from small decorative jobs and the sale of his works. He continued to paint urban landscapes and suburban scenes, mostly in small format.

He also carried out a scientific side activity, manufacturing pigments, developing a color chart and taking an interest in their conservation.

Louis Hayer died in Corneilles-en-Parisis in December 1940. His work remained unknown for a long time, until it was rediscovered by art historians in the 1980s and 1990s. He is now recognized as an original contributor to Neo-Impressionism alongside Seurat and Signac.

Focus on Bouquet de fleurs, Louis Hayet, 1896  

Louis Hayet painted this picture during his Pointillist period (1895 - 1897), when he was most influenced by Seurat and Signac.

He used small, juxtaposed dabs of color (divisionism), without prior mixing on the palette, to produce an optical vibration. His chromatic palette includes light, acidic tones, yellows, soft greens, touches of coral red and a muted neutral background to make the flowers stand out.

The bouquet is centralized in a simple vase, framed by an empty space that accentuates the floral presence, and creates an asymmetrical balance accentuated by the arrangement of the stems.

Diffuse light is suggested by the superimposition of light and dark dots, creating both subtle shadows but also soft reflections on the vase.

This still life also has symbolism and interpretation for the artist, as it celebrates ephemeral nature, and sets possible references to notions of fragility and renewal linked to fin-de-siècle symbolism.

This work therefore illustrates Hayet's pointillist phase, which he would abandon shortly afterwards in favor of freer brushstrokes and more intimate subjects.

Although less recognized than his contemporaries, Hayet remains a discreet link in the neo-Impressionist movement, and his Bouquet de fleurs testifies to his role in the colorist experimentation of the period.

Louis Hayet's imprint on his period

Louis Hayet contributed, albeit briefly, to postimpressionism (1895 - 1897), and his pontillist phase enriched the movement with great color research and a keen sense of light.

He bridged the gap between traditional Impressionism and Divisionist experiments, mediating between Seurat and the freer Postimpressionists.

He contributed to a certain chromatic innovation, since his tonal interplay (superimposition of bright, contrasting strokes), inspired some of his peers to rethink optical blending.

He produced works that were literally " illustrated " since, alongside his canvases, his chromophotographs and posters disseminated these techniques beyond the restricted circle of art salons.

Although he held no official classes, his practice and advice were heeded and listened to within Parisian circles. After his Pointillist period, his return to a freer style demonstrated the versatility of this fin-de-siècle generation, fostering the transition to Fauvism. 

His signature

Not all of Louis Hayet's works are signed.

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

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