Pierre Roy (10 August 1880 – 26 September 1950) was a French

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

painter. He is known for his realistically painted compositions of ordinary objects such as fruits, vegetables, woolen reels, ears, seeds, eggs, and ribbons, all arranged in unexpected ways.

Biography

He was the eldest of four children of the secretary of the management board of the

Musée d'Arts de Nantes The Fine Arts Museum of Nantes (French: Musée d'Arts de Nantes), along with 14 other provincial museums, was created, by consular decree on 14 Fructidor in year IX (31 August 1801). Today the museum is one of the largest museums in the region. ...

, all of whom became amateur painters. After gaining his

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

at the local school he joined a firm of architects before enrolling at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Disappointed with the course, he left to work on the designs for the

1900 Paris Exposition The Exposition Universelle of 1900 (), better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate develop ...

. In 1905, he decided to devote himself to painting, beginning in 1906 at the Salon of the

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; ) was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions. 1862 Established in 1862 by the painter a ...

(SNBA), a painters collective. He exhibited in 1907, 1908, 1913 and 1914 at the

Société des Artistes Indépendants The Société des Artistes Indépendants (, ''Society of Independent Artists'') or Salon des Indépendants was formed in Paris on 29 July 1884. The association began with the organization of massive exhibitions in Paris, choosing the slogan "''sa ...

. In 1925, he took part in the first exhibition by surrealist painters alongside

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( ; ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His ...

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

and

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

, and in 1926 had his first solo exhibition. In 1933 he was appointed for five years as a naval artist. An exhibition devoted to his work was held at the Galerie des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1935, and his work was displayed at the 1937 World's Fair and the Montaigne Gallery in Paris in 1938. He travelled and exhibited in galleries around the world: in New York at the Brummer Gallery in 1930 and 1933, at the Julien Levy Gallery in 1932, at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York in 1936, at the Carstairs Gallery in 1949, in London in 1934, at the Wildenstein Gallery and in Hawaii in 1939 at the

Honolulu Academy of Arts The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. It has one of the largest single collectio ...

. In addition he created stage sets, several covers for ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' magazine, and advertising posters.

Work in public collections

* New York,

** ''Danger dans l'escalier (Danger on the stairs)'', 1928, oil on canvas, 91 × 60 c
MoMA
** ''L'Heure d'été (Daylight Saving Time)'', 1929, oil on canvas, 54 × 38 c
MoMA
** ''Country Fair'', c.1930, oil on canvas, 41 x 33 c
MoMA
*

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

** ''Still Life'', 1938, oil on canvas, 35 × 27 cm
AIC
*

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

** ''Metric System'', c.1933, oil on canvas, 146 x 99 cm
PMA
*

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

, London ** ''A Naturalist's Study'', 1928, oil on canvas, 92 x 65 c
Tate
** ''Boris Anrep in his Studio, 65 Boulevard, Arago, 1949'', oil on canvas, 65 x 50 c
Tate
* Nantes, France, Musée des Beaux-arts ** ''Adrienne pêcheuse (Adrienne the Fisherwoman)'', 1919, oil on canvas, 52 × 35 c

* Paris,

Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou. In 2021 it ranked 10th in the list of ...

** ''Une Journée à la campagne (A Day in the Countryside)'', 1931, oil on canvas, 33 x 55 c
History of Art

Sources

* ''Pierre Roy'', Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes et Somogy éditions d'art, Paris, 1994. * Adam Biro and René Passeron, ''Dictionnaire général du surréalisme et de ses environs'', Office du Livre, Fribourg, Switzerland and Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1982, p. 370. * Nicolas Blondel, « Les Folies douces de Monsieur Roy », ''Beaux Arts magazine'', No 132, March 1995, p. 86 to 91. *Article based on a translation of the equivalent article on French Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Pierre 1880 births 1950 deaths 20th-century French painters French surrealist artists