René-Charles-Edmond His 1877-1960

Born in Colombes, René-Charles-Edmond His trained in Paris, studying successively at the École des Beaux-Arts under the painters Léon Tanzi, Jules Lefebvre, Tony Robert-Fleury, and Henri Biva. He began exhibiting in 1897 at the Salon des Artistes Français, initially focusing on predominantly Symbolist subjects, which met with considerable success. He received an honorable mention in 1898, a third-class medal in 1900, and another honorable mention the same year at the Exposition Universelle for Ophelia (cat. no. 1015).

While the Shakespearean subject of this painting, exhibited the previous year at the Salon, caught the attention of critics, it was seemingly above all the treatment of the surrounding landscape that garnered praise. Henri Rochefort even described the tragic subject as a “pretext for a very lovely wooded scene,” while Boyer d’Agen gave full primacy to the vegetal decor:

“the delightful and fresh landscape of tender greenery, as if it had a soul or as if it wished to make a tomb for the dead, this second cradle of survival even sweeter than the first for those who sleep to forget, after having lived only to remember.”

It seems René His took these accolades to heart, for from 1901 onward, the artist exhibited primarily landscapes reflecting his travels in the Yonne, in Provence, and in Algeria, where he stayed regularly.