Maximilien LUCE

Maximilien LUCE (1858-1941)

The painter Maximilien Luce was born in Paris on March 13, 1858.
He began to study engraving in 1872 and took evening courses to deepen his knowledge.  During his service and later, up to 1885, he studied at the Académie Suisse and the studio of Carolus-Duran at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In his painting, he became influenced by Impressionism. In the 1880s he met and established friendly contacts with many Parisian painters, including Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Georges Seurat (1859-1891) and Paul Signac (1863-1935). Together with them he was one of the founders of Neo-Impressionism (Pointillism). Until 1904 Luce lived in Montmartre, the streets of which he liked to paint. During 1904-1924, he lived in Auteuil, then moved back to Paris. Besides street scenes, factories and wharfs, he painted numerous landscapes on his travels through the Etampes, Normandy and Brittany.


In 1917, Luce discovered Rolleboise, a small village on the edges of the Seine near Mantes. Soon the artist buys a house there and shares his life between Paris and the Rolleboise area. From then Rolleboise became the ground of a more peaceful painting: bathing, landscapes. In 1934, Maximilien Luce was elected President of the Société des Artistes Indépendants.


Maximilien Luce died in Paris on 1941.