Pierre Agnès
We invite you to explore the life and work of Pierre Agnès (1898–1964) through a curated selection of his watercolors, studies, and landscapes currently available for sale.
Agnès began his artistic training in Paris at the École des Arts Décoratifs, where he developed a foundation in observational drawing and design. Before the First World War, his studio work focused on botany and ornithology, with early pieces such as “Les Plumes” and “Feathers” revealing his fascination with light, structure, and the decorative qualities of nature.
In 1914, as Europe descended into war, Agnès volunteered for military service. He was demobilized in 1919, and the impact of the war is felt in select works from this period—most notably “Ferme Repérée” (1918), where the absence of vivid color and the stark composition reflect the emotional gravity of the time.
After the war, Agnès traveled across Europe. His work “Eltville” was painted along the Rhine in Hesse, Germany, and captures a quiet moment in the postwar landscape. He later turned his focus to France’s western regions, particularly Brittany, where the sea, fishing villages, and everyday rural life became recurring themes in his work. He continued to travel and paint throughout the country, with scenes recorded in Corrèze, the Jura, Normandy, and around Paris.
In addition to his landscapes, Agnès created a number of animal studies in mixed media. Notable examples include “Buse,” a dynamic rendering of a buzzard in flight, and “French Rooster,” both of which reflect his painterly instinct and graphic precision.
In 1939, as war again swept through Europe, Agnès was mobilized for civil defense. His artistic career resumed only in the late 1940s, and his later years remain less documented. Known among collectors as a peintre de la lumière—a painter of light—he passed away in 1964 at the age of 66.
Pierre Agnès exhibited at the Salon des Beaux-Arts between 1930 and 1932, and at the Salon des Indépendants in 1948 and 1949.