Paul Peel

Paul Peel is best loved for his tender paintings of children: small figures by the fire, at bedtime or playing with toys, painted with warm light and soft skin tones in the polished French academic manner.

Born in London, Ontario, he studied with Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, then in Paris under Jean-Léon Gérôme and Benjamin-Constant. He settled in France and also worked at the artists’ colony at Pont-Aven. He was one of the first Canadian painters to take on the nude, and his After the Bath won a medal at the Paris Salon of 1890. He died in Paris at only 31.

Bedtime and Japanese Dolls and Fan show his gift for quiet, affectionate moments.