Moïse KISLING 1891-1953

Moïse Kisling (1891–1953) was one of the leading figures of the School of Paris, celebrated for his female portraits with their melancholic gazes and for his luminous landscapes of the South of France.

Born in Kraków to a modest family, he trained at the Academy of Fine Arts under Joseph Pankiewicz, an admirer of Renoir and Cézanne. His teacher encouraged him to move to Paris in 1910.
In Montmartre and later Montparnasse, he moved in the circles of Modigliani, Soutine, Derain, Gris, and Picasso, quickly becoming a central presence in the artistic community.
He enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in 1914, was seriously wounded, and obtained French citizenship in 1924.
By the 1910s and 1920s, his portraits and decorative nudes had already established his distinctive style, blending Cubist discipline, an orientalist sensuality, and sumptuous color.

Living between Paris and Sanary, he produced a large body of structured, vibrant landscapes. Exiled in New York during World War II, he returned to France in 1946 and settled permanently in Sanary‑sur‑Mer, where he died in 1953. His work, emblematic of the “Roaring Twenties,” remains present in numerous European museums.