Basque Country Painting: When North Meets South

For the last six years, the Ivoire-Carrère & Laborie Auction House, based in Pau and Bayonne, has staged a sale every July dedicated to Basque artists from the first half of the 20th century . The now firmly established market for these painters means that Ramiro Arrue, Pedro Ribera and Louis Floutier are well-known names sought after by art lovers and collectors. The Villa Les Camélias, in Cap-d'Ail (a long way from the Basque Country, in Alpes-Maritimes) even exhibits, in its Ramiro Arrue Museum, the largest private collection of the artist's work all year round. The powerful images of these Basque paintings evoke the Pont-Aven School which, from the Breton to the Basque coasts, used a style influenced by modernity, Cubism and Post-Impressionism to depict the down-to-earth, tough and sometimes harsh daily lives of men and women, transcended by the poetry of light and color. “We're helping to promote Basque art by endeavoring to create a festive occasion," says auctioneer Patrice Carrère. “The choice of venue is one of the most important aspects of these events. This year, after several sales in Guéthary, we are lucky enough to be exhibiting and selling…