Eugene-Alexis Girardet

Eugène Girardet painted desert life in North Africa: camel trains at dawn, Bedouin camps, markets and oases, often in golden, hazy light. His scenes are calm and observational, focused on people going about their daily lives.

He was born in Paris in 1853 into a Swiss family of artists, trained as an engraver with his father Paul Girardet and then studied with Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts. He made eight trips to Algeria from 1879, spending long periods around Bou Saâda, and visited Egypt and Palestine in 1898. He died in Paris in 1907. His work is in the Dahesh Museum in New York and the National Museum of Fine Arts in Algiers.

Camel Train by an Oasis at Dawn is typical of his soft desert light.