Felix Ziem - L'éléphant - Petit Palais Musee des Beaux Arts de la ville de Paris

The Frenchman Felix Ziem belongs to the most creative landscape painters in art history – viewing his pictures, one genuinely feels he painted not only with colour but also with pure light, which he carefully scattered into his works as the breath of life. Felix Ziem sought stimulation and motifs on his travels rather than relaxation. He did not shy away from adversity and visited Istanbul during the Crimean War. He captured his collected impressions in numerous sketchbooks which he turned into impressive paintings with glowing colours and fascinating light effects. He achieved the latter, in particular, with such great artistic skill that his paintings were imbued with an almost uncanny liveliness. In doing so, he achieved time and again his own painterly perspective which stood out from that hitherto known in a unique way, despite the unmistakeable stylistic affinity with artists such as Monet. In 1860, he finally settled in Montmartre, the famous artist quarter in Paris. Having been spoilt by success, Ziem was very generous towards those less fortunate – he supported young artists who had not yet been able to establish themselves with the proceeds of his coveted and highly paid works.