Painted in 1965, this intimate composition reflects Henri Valachman’s belief that “the ordinary is extraordinary.” Two women rest beside the sea at sunset, absorbed in a quiet, private moment. Warm ochres and golden skin tones contrast beautifully with deep blues and a glowing orange horizon. With simplified forms and expressive colour, the work captures the distinctive atmosphere of French mid-century modernism.
Artist: Henri Valachman
Title: 2 Femmes
Year: 1965
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 100 × 120 cm
Signature: Signed lower left
Originality: Original artwork
Henri Valachman
Henri Valachman (1925–2020) was a French painter born in Paris, whose warm and highly personal figurative language transformed everyday life into something quietly extraordinary. He trained at the École des Métiers d’Art, rue du Louvre, Paris, and developed a career centred on figurative painting — interiors, still lifes, landscapes, musicians and, importantly for this work, the female figure.
Valachman described his own philosophy with unusual simplicity. He said that nature and the objects surrounding him were his references, which he transformed through stylisation and his own chromatic language. Most revealingly, he explained that he tried to demonstrate that “the ordinary is extraordinary.” He rejected the idea that painting needed an elaborate intellectual message: for him, its purpose was fundamentally connected with the pleasure of painting and the pleasure experienced by the viewer.
His exhibition history was extensive, particularly in France. His biography records annual participation in exhibitions across 17 French cities, including the Salon Violet and the Salon des Artistes Français, as well as regular solo exhibitions in Chilly-Mazarin, Carnac and Galerie Art World. He was also selected or presented by Galerie Thuillier, Galerie Everarts, Galerie Art Présent and Galerie Eolia, among others.
His work also reached an international audience. His documented exhibition history includes Mouvance de l’Art in New York and the Salon de Prestige Européen in New Jersey, as well as the Salon des Artistes Européens 2000.
Valachman continued exhibiting late into his life: a documented exhibition devoted to his work took place in April 2008, followed by a still-life exhibition in February 2009. His works continue to circulate on the French and international secondary market; Gazette Drouot records paintings including Évasion littéraire and L’Anse du Pô, Bretagne, while MutualArt maintains auction records for his work.
Importantly, his known oeuvre was much broader than landscapes and still lifes. Auction archives document groups of female nudes, landscapes, still lifes, musicians and artist subjects, making the female figure an established part of his artistic vocabulary rather than an isolated theme.
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