Aristide Maillol

(Banyuls-sur-Mer 1861 - 1944 Perpignan)

In 1881, Maillol moves to Paris to become a painter. In 1885, he enrolls at the École des Beaux-Arts to study with Jean-Léon Gérôme and Alexandre Cabanel. His acquaintance with Paul Gauguin in 1892 leads to an association, from 1893 on, with the “Nabis” artists. Until 1900, Maillol manufactures tapestries, branching out in 1896 into sculpture in wood and, later, terracotta. In 1902, he has an exhibition at Ambroise Vollard. He begins work on his first major sculpture, La Méditerranée, which is cast in bronze. Harry Graf Kessler and Hugo von Hofmannsthal are his companions on a trip to Greece in 1908. After 1922, he wins a growing number of important commissions. After an extended controversy, his monument to Cézanne is installed in the Tuileries in 1929.