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Louis Valtat 1869-1952 Untitled, c. 1930 Signed 'L. V' lower right Oil on canvas 10 5 ⁄ 8 x 8 5 ⁄ 8 in, 27 x 22 cm Provenance Private Collection, Canada Literature The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Comité Louis Valtat Louis Valtat belonged to the radical generation of painters who redefined French art at the turn of the twentieth century. Valtat trained at the Académie Julian, where he became acquainted with Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard and Maurice Denis, whose group later formed the Nabis. Their meetings at the Café Volpini in Paris were vital to the development of Valtat's ideas about colour and design, laying the foundations for his artistic freedom. By 1900 he was spending more time in the South of France on account of his health. There he became close to Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Signac who opened his eyes to the possibilities of colour, leading him to exhibit alongside the Fauves at the celebrated 1905 Salon d'Automne. Encouraged by his peers, he moved steadily away from descriptive realism toward a more expressive, intuitive use of colour. Executed in around 1930, Still Life demonstrates Valtat's mastery of form and colour. The vivid interplay of tones and rhythmic brushwork give the composition a decorative richness and immediacy. Bouquets and tabletop arrangements became a central motif for Valtat, allowing him to explore the balance between structure and spontaneity. Here, the bold contrasts and confident surface handling reveal his unceasing fascination with the expressive power of colour—a testament to Valtat's enduring position among the colourists of early modern French art. 44