Maurice Denis

Maurice Denis painted in flat areas of soft colour, with simple shapes, rhythmic lines and a calm, spiritual mood. His subjects are often religious, or scenes of family life with his wife Marthe and their children, set in gardens and by the sea.

He was born in Granville, Normandy, in 1870 and was a founder of the Nabis, the group of young painters around Paul Sérusier, Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. In 1890 he wrote that a picture, before being a battle horse or a nude, is essentially a flat surface covered with colours assembled in a certain order, a line often quoted as a starting point for modern art. He was a devout Catholic and later decorated many churches. His house at Saint-Germain-en-Laye is now a museum of his work.

The Annunciation and April show his soft, decorative colour. Look at the flat patterns and the quiet, almost dreamlike stillness. He died in Paris in 1943.