NORBERT GOENEUTTE PAINTINGS FOR SALE & BIOGRAPHY
NORBERT GOENEUTTE
French, 1854 - 1894
BIOGRAPHY
Norbert Goeneutte was born in Paris and attended the Lycée Condorcet. During the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune, the family moved out of Paris but, upon their return, Goeneutte graduated from the Lycée in 1871. His father found him work in an attorney’s office but, not taking to the law, he shortly afterwards entered the École des Beaux-Arts where he studied with Isidore Pils. After Pils died in 1875, he was replaced by Henri Lehmann, who was not popular with most of the students. Goeneutte left the École to set up his own studio.
The artist became a regular visitor to Père Lathuille, a well known cabaret, and there befriended Êdouard Manet. And at the Café de la Nouvelle Athènes, he was introduced to a wider artistic circle. He began exhibiting at the Paris Salon but, despite his friendships with many of the Impressionists, never exhibited in one of their group shows. Goeneutte was one of Renoir’s friends who modeled for his two paintings Bal du Moulin de la Galette, the second version of which was exhibited in the third Impressionist exhibition in 1877.
With the financial help of his brother, Goeneutte travelled extensively around France, and visited London in 1880, and Venice in 1890. He exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in 1889, and in the same year founded the Société des Peintres-Graveurs Français along with his friends Félix Bracquemond and Henri Guérard. However, Goeneutte had a disagreement with the Société when it refused admission to Camille Pissarro because he had not been born in France.
In 1891, Dr. Paul Gachet diagnosed Goeneutte as having a weak heart and recommended the young artist move to a rural area for the sake of his health. Gachet found Goeneutte a house called Villa Musette near Auvers-sur-Oise where he moved with his mother, sister Reine and brother Charles. There he developed a close connection with Charles François Daubigny and his circle; he also produced many engraved illustrations together with Dr. Gachet. Three years after moving to Auvers, Goeneutte died from a lung disease, possibly tuberculosis, and was buried in Auvers, near the grave of Vincent Van Gogh, who had also been a patient of the generous Dr. Gachet. Goeneutte’s 1891 portrait of Dr. Gachet is in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay.
A major retrospective exhibition of Norbert Goeneutte’s work was held at the Musée de Pontoise in 1994.
Museum Collections
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
MD Museum, Denver, CO
Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Liège
National Gallery, London
Tate Britain, London
Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Miami, FL
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
