Henri Edmond Cross - Valley with Fir (Shade on the Mountain)

Henri-Edmond Cross (1856-1910) was a French painter and printmaker, born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix in Douai, France. He is known for his use of bright colours and his contributions to the development of pointillism, a painting technique that uses small dots of colour to create an image. Cross studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts in Lille before moving to Paris in 1884. There he met Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, who were also experimenting with pointillism. Cross was inspired by their work and began to incorporate the technique into his own paintings. In 1891, Cross moved to the south of France, where he continued to paint landscapes and seascapes using pointillism. His paintings often featured bright, vibrant colours and depicted scenes from the Mediterranean coast. Cross was a member of the Société des Artistes Indépendants and exhibited his work at their annual exhibitions. He also exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne. Cross died in 1910 in Saint-Clair, France. His work has been exhibited in museums around the world, including the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.