Rating and value of paintings by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

If you own a work by artist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes or based on his work and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers will guide you.

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Artist's rating and value 

With his elegant, sensitively imbued paintings, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes became a major exponent of Decadantism and Symbolism. Works by Puvis de Chavannes are quite present and appreciated on today's art market.

The prices at which they currently sell range from €20 to €770,000, a considerable delta but one that says a lot about the value that can be attributed to your paintings, prints, drawings and pictures.

Prized by collectors, some of his exceptional works can fetch hundreds of thousands of euros, as evidenced by his drawing L'enfance de Sainte Geneviève, sold for €770,000, whereas it was estimated at between €540,000 and €720,000.

Order of value from the most basic to the most prestigious

The artist's style and technique

The works of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes are distinguished by their serene, poetic approach, where the simplicity of the lines and the softness of the colors establish an atmosphere of eternity and contemplation.

Puvis, in search of a classical ideal, adopts a style that marries harmony and simplicity, freeing himself from superfluous details to better sublimate the human figure and the landscape.

His palette, delicate and often powdered with pastel tones, lends his frescoes a timeless, almost out-of-this-world appearance, where each scene seems bathed in a soft, diffused light.

The artist skilfully plays on the contrasts between light and shadow, not to dramatize, but to accentuate a serene, almost mystical peace, which invites contemplation. His figures, frozen in measured gesture, embody allegories of rest, harmony and the bond between man and nature.

With classical rigor, Puvis de Chavannes constructs his compositions in successive wide planes, creating a spatial depth that gently guides the viewer's gaze through landscapes imbued with quietude.

In his work, eroticism is barely hinted at, evoked with delicate restraint, far removed from the provocation of his contemporaries. Puvis is above all interested in idealized beauty, where the human figure blends into nature as an organic element of the scene, evoking a vision of universal purity.

The result is a style that contrasts with the artistic movements of his time, favoring an interiority and a silent lyricism.

He influenced other Symbolist artists, including Alphonse Osbert, Odilon Redon or Alexandre Séon.

The life of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898), born into a wealthy Lyonnais family, showed from an early age an attraction for art that clashed with the expectations of his milieu.

He began his training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, but soon felt cramped by the academic straitjacket, aspiring to a more personal and profound artistic expression.

In 1847, he moved to Paris, where he frequented the studios of Thomas Couture and Eugène Delacroix, soaking up a variety of influences while seeking to define his own pictorial language.

In parallel, he established links with artists and writers of the time, forming a network of friendships that enabled him to immerse himself in the artistic effervescence of the capital.

Gradually, Puvis moved towards a pared-down style, in opposition to the narrative overload of academic works, and favored the fresco as the medium for his compositions.

It was at the Paris Salon that Puvis de Chavannes achieved his first successes, affirming his reputation as an innovative artist.

His mural works, which adorn the walls of numerous public buildings, such as the Pantheon and the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, embody his ideal of a grand, timeless painting, where the harmony of lines and the softness of hues create an atmosphere of serenity.

On the bangs of fashions and dominant movements, Puvis was often criticized for the stripped-down nature of his compositions, but he eventually established himself as a major figure, admired for his boldness and originality.

Introspective by nature, Puvis shunned worldly life and devoted himself fully to his art. His austere lifestyle and commitment to a pure artistic vision contrasted with the glitz and glamour of Parisian life.

Although discreet, he gained recognition during his lifetime, notably thanks to the founding of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, which enshrined his work. Elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, he was respected as much for his talent as for his sincere quest for an aesthetic of spiritual elevation.

In the last years of his life, a weakened Puvis de Chavannes withdrew somewhat from the hustle and bustle of Paris, nevertheless continuing to paint with undiminished fervor until his final days.

His art, imbued with melancholy and dreaminess, left a lasting imprint on French painting, heralding Symbolism and inspiring subsequent generations.

Les dessous du visible - Puvis de Chavannes

Focus on Le Rêve, Puvis de Chavannes

In Le Rêve, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes plunges us into a scene imbued with mysticism, where ethereal figures float above a sleeping young man, symbolizing the fragility of human aspirations and limited access to a divine or spiritual ideal.

Puvis de Chavannes, as a forerunner of Symbolism, focuses here on evoking the invisible, the immaterial. His choice of soft colors, the palette dominated by soothing blues and earthy tones, lends the work a dreamlike calm.

In the context of symbolism in the 20th century, artists often used such symbols to question religious dogma, criticizing a restrictive vision of spirituality.

The three gracefully floating female figures can be interpreted as allegories of faith, hope and charity, but their distant approach to the young man could also reflect the inaccessibility of the religious ideal, a theme dear to the symbolists.

By hijacking traditional codes, Puvis de Chavannes opens the way to an introspective reading: the flowers falling delicately towards the sleeper recall an ideal that we brush against but never grasp.

This is less an affirmation of faith than a personal, intimate spiritual quest, where institutional religion gives way to a free exploration of the mysteries of the human soul.

This type of poetic symbolism is part of a movement that will be pushed further by twentieth-century artists, often with a more virulent critique of the influence of the Church and a quest for spiritual emancipation.

Puvis de Chavannes and Symbolism in the 19th century

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes is often recognized as one of the pioneers of Symbolism, although his work predates the movement's official advent. Through his paintings, he blazed a new trail, where art no longer sought merely to imitate reality, but to evoke ideas, emotions and inner truths.$

His works, marked by serene compositions and allegorical figures, establish an atmosphere of contemplation that invites the viewer to ponder the mysteries of human existence.

Contrary to the naturalists, Puvis de Chavannes does not focus on realistic details, preferring a purification of shapes and colors.

This visual simplification, characteristic of his style, allows a sense of purity and sacredness to emerge, where each element seems to carry a symbolic meaning.

A pioneer in his approach to the invisible, Puvis de Chavannes presents idealized landscapes, scenes suspended in an indefinite space-time, inviting the viewer on an introspective journey.

By moving away from traditional religious themes, he develops a more universal and personal vision of spirituality. His figures, often in a state of contemplation or reverie, embody a quest for the ideal that echoes the concerns of later symbolists.

Through his work, Puvis de Chavannes laid the foundations for an art that transcends appearances, preferring to suggest the invisible forces and deep emotions that inhabit man.

This approach set an example for many Symbolist artists, who found in it a model of detachment from the material world to explore the mysterious dimensions of the human spirit.

In this respect, Puvis de Chavannes stands out as an essential precursor of Symbolism, paving the way for a more introspective art, imbued with silence and poetry, where each image becomes the mirror of an inner reflection.

His works, at once refined and charged with meaning, mark a break with realism and herald a new era in art, that of the search for the absolute.

His signature

Not all of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes' works are signed.

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

Our team remains at your disposal to identify your works.

Expertise your property

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