I dreamed of the beautiful. Félix Ziem, paintings and watercolours, exhibition

The romantic touch of the travelling painter.

French painter Felix Ziem (1821-1911) was a nomadic artist, unclassifiable, eccentric and romantic. A great traveller, a close friend of the Barbizon painters, an admirer of both Claude Lorrain and Turner, he occupies a unique place within 19th century art. Ziem attracted a large clientele who loved his dreamy landscapes of Venice and Constantinople.

He began his long career in the shadow of Delacroix and spent the last years of his life in Montmartre near the workshop of the young Picasso. With this exhibition, the Petit Palais in Paris presents a hundred works from the Ziem donation, made to the museum in 1905. Water and sky dominate in these luminous landscapes which made him so famous. It is also a real treat to see his travel notebooks and sketches made from life. Visitors can admire his copies of the Italian and Dutch masters and his sketches which give free rein to colourful impulses, revealing the secrets of his studio, and showing us another side to Ziem.