Louis Gaidan

Louis Gaidan was a highly regarded Post-Impressionist painter known for his light filled landscapes depicting his native southern France.

Gaidan was born in 1847 to a wealthy family who owned a bank, the Banque Gaidan. He studied in Paris with the Academic painter Jean Jalabert and later in Nîmes with the landscape painter Paulin Bertrand. Jalabert teached him the fine draftsmanship of the Academic tradition and from Paulin Bertrand he was exposed to the painting of landscapes en plein air.

He debuted at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in Paris in 1887 and continued to exhibit annually there until 1903.

Gaidan did not need to produce a profuse output of paintings; instead, he leisurely painted landscapes of areas throughout Provence, including Nîmes, Toulon, Hyeres, and Carqueiranne, where he owned the "Villa des Agaves".

He was civically active in his native Nîmes, was a founding member of the Société des Amis des Arts and it is said he donated several works to the local museum. He was a member of the Sociétaire des Artistes Français from1889 and exhibited there from 1887 to 1903. He also showed his work in the Salons in the South of France such as those at Nîmes, Toulouse, Hyères and Monaco.

Gaidan adapted some of Paul Cézanne's technique, in particular of using small repetitive brushstrokes to create planes of color. In his own paintings he composed small points of color laid side-by-side to create the appearance of solid form.

Gaidan painted the immediate area of his residence in luminous and fresh color. His moderate Pointillism is very harmonious and compared to Henri Martin.