PAUL JEAN MARIE SAÏN PAINTINGS FOR SALE & BIOGRAPHY
PAUL JEAN MARIE SAÏN
French, 1853-1908
BIOGRAPHY
Paul Saïn was born in Avignon and studied at the École des Beaux Arts d’Avignon. He won a prize there for painting live models in 1873 and another from the Musée Calvet. These awards led to a scholarship at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, where he studied in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme until 1877.
Saïn first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879, receiving an honorable mention in 1883 and a third-class medal in 1886. He received a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889, a second-class medal at the Salon in 1893 and a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900. Saïn was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1895.
The artist lived for twenty-five years in the picturesque village of Saint-Céneri-le-Geréi, painting numerous landscapes there. In nearby Moisy, at the local inn, Saïn painted a large number of portraits. In 1887, he traveled and painted in Algeria. In 1900, Saïn was one of several artists chosen to provide decorations for the restaurant at the Gare de Lyon (now known as Le Train Bleu), his contribution being scenes of Avignon.
Saïn died in Avignon in 1908 and is buried at the cemetery of Saint-Véran where his tomb is decorated with a bronze medallion by Félix Charpentier. A portrait of Charpentier by Saïn is in the collection of the Musée Carnavalet, Paris.
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Alençon
Musée Calvet, Avignon
Musée Comtadin-Duplessis, Carpentras
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Douai
Musée Eugène Boudin, Honfleur
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Cummer Museum of Art, Jacksonville, FL
Musée Fabre, Montpellier
Musée Dobrée, Nantes
Musée Carnavalet, Paris
Gare de Lyon, Paris
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Musée d’Art Hyacinthe Rigaud, Perpignan
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Musée Paul Valéry, Séte
