Henri Laulhé and the Painters of Saint-Tropez

Green, red and blue hulls crowd the quay, masts drawn against the ochre houses and the bell tower of the parish church, the morning light soft, the boats’ names still legible on their bows. The port of Saint-Tropez has been painted by Signac, Marquet, Camoin and Dunoyer de Segonzac; Henri Laulhé (1908–1978) painted it in their wake, and his Fishing Boats in the Port of Saint-Tropez is lot 23 of our Modern Masters: 20th Century Art sale.

A painter of two coasts

Laulhé’s name is bound first to the Basque country: the harbours of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Ciboure, the church of Guéthary, the fishing fleet of the Bay of Biscay, subjects that still pass regularly through the auction rooms of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Bayonne. The Mediterranean was his other coast, and Saint-Tropez, where the quay runs below the church tower, gave him his most colourful motif. He exhibited in the regional salons of the South-West and his paintings are held in private collections in France and Spain.

The Saint-Tropez tradition

Signac moored his boat here in 1892 and painted the port in dots; Marquet flattened it into grey and pink planes; Camoin and Dunoyer de Segonzac gave it their Fauve and post-Fauve colour. By the 1950s the harbour was one of the most painted places in France, and a painter who chose it had to find his own register. Laulhé’s is solid and luminous: firm strokes, the colour of hulls and house-fronts set against calm, reflective water, closer to Marquet than to Signac.

What to look for

Laulhé is a painter for people who buy pictures rather than names: a modestly priced Post-Impressionist harbour scene, well painted, on an unlined canvas in good condition. The Saint-Tropez subjects are the most decorative and the most sought after. More on his artist page.

At Aurora & Athena

Fishing Boats in the Port of Saint-Tropez, c. 1950s, oil on canvas, 38 × 46 cm, unframed, signed at the lower right, is offered on 17 October 2026 with an estimate of 400 – 600 €. Photographs, condition summary and bidding on the lot page.