La Belle France

Exploring the deep-rooted links between British artists and France during the Modernist period

The late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century was the "golden age" of British artists living and working in France. They were attracted to Paris, home to renowned art academies, galleries, modern masters, and a liberating bohemian lifestyle. But many also travelled widely in France, whether on painting holidays in Normandy and Brittany, or, drawn by the Mediterranean climate, cheap properties and the relaxed hedonistic lifestyle in Provence and the Riviera.

La Belle France by Simon Morley explores the influence of French culture on British artists during the modern period. From his house in central France, Morley travels in the footsteps of artists including Francis Bacon, the Bloomsbury Group, Edward Burra, Leonora Carrington, David Hockney, Gwen John, Ben Nicholson, and Walter Sickert. For these British Francophiles, France's culture and social milieu were the most powerful expressions of the spirit of modernity and profoundly inspirational, helping to free them from what they perceived as the strait-laced parochialism of their homeland.