Biographie

1856–1913

Born in Cher­bourg in 1856, Hen­ry Moret dis­cov­ered the South Coast of Brit­tany dur­ing his mil­i­tary ser­vice. Here he became a pupil of the marine painter Ernest Coroller who intro­duced him to the prac­tice of ‘plein-air’ in the coastal town of Lori­ent. In 1886, Moret enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, whilst simul­ta­ne­ous­ly attend­ing pri­vate class­es at the Académie Julian under Jean-Paul Lau­rens. In 1880, dur­ing his first par­tic­i­pa­tion at the ‘Salon de Pein­ture et de Sculp­ture’ at the Palais des Champs Elysées, Moret met the Impres­sion­ist painter Mar­ius Gour­dault who intro­duced him to the Fin­istère area locat­ed on West Coast of Brit­tany. In 1881 Moret exhib­it­ed at the ‘Salon des Artistes Français’ and at the ‘Salon des Indépen­dants’. Dur­ing the mid 1880s he joined the leg­endary artis­tic com­mu­ni­ty of Le Poul­du, neigh­bour­ing Pont-Aven on Brittany’s South Coast.

Despite his con­tact with Paul Gau­guin in 1888 and his stay at the infa­mous auberge of Marie Hen­ry two years lat­er, Moret took time to warm to the reign­ing Pont-Aven style of Syn­thetism. Moret kept his pref­er­ence for the Impres­sion­ist tech­nique which he com­bined with some aspects of Syn­thetism in order to cre­ate his pow­er­ful ren­der­ings of his trade­mark Bre­ton coastal scenes.

Moret moved to Doëlan dur­ing the 1890s and returned to a pur­er form of Impres­sion­ism. In Brit­tany, he fore­most paint­ed the South Coast of the Fin­istère, the coast­lines of the Gulf of Mor­bi­han, and the islands of Groix, Belle-Île, Houat and Oues­sant. Com­bin­ing a Japan­ese-style inspired sim­plic­i­ty with his Impres­sion­ist tech­nique in effort­less com­po­si­tions punc­tu­at­ed by a keen sense of light and colour, Moret craft­ed a sin­gu­lar and instant­ly recog­nis­able style.

Moret died in Paris in 1913.