Auguste Chabaud

Auguste Chabaud (3 October 1882 in Nimes - 23 May 1955 in Graveson) was a French painter and sculptor.

At the age of fourteen Chabaud joined the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Avignon. In 1899 he went to Paris to continue his artistic training at the Academie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux Arts. There he met Henri Matisse and Andre Derain. In 1900 he returned to his parents' vineyard in southern France, because the business was affected by a crisis there. In 1901, he was forced to leave Paris in order to secure his livelihood. He worked on a ship and got to know the West African coast. In the following years he became acquainted with the Parisian nightlife and art collectors interested in growing for him. In the Paris neighborhood Montmartre, where he had his studio, he painted various scenes of Parisian life. Chabaud Cubist phase began in 1911, where he also began sculpting. In the following years he had many exhibitions, including 1913 in New York, where his works were exhibited alongside those of artists such as Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck and Picasso. After his return from the first World War Chabaud settled down in Graveson. From 1920 he had his "blue period". He used the Prussian Blue as the only color in his works. From then, he focused exclusively on the south of France. He painted scenes of rural life, the farmers, and the hills and trails of the Alpilles.

In 1992, the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur opened the Musee Auguste Chabaud in his honor.