Landscape painter · Czech
Around Giverny
Václav Radimský
The most Impressionist of Czech painters, settled near Vernon for nearly thirty years.
- Dates1867 — 1946
- NationalityCzech
- DisciplineLandscape painter
- Place of birthKolín, Bohême
Biography
Trained under Eduard Peithner von Lichtenfels in Vienna and then Eduard Schleich in Munich, he left for France around 1889. He exhibited at the Paris Salon — a prize in 1894 for studies of ferns — and won a medal at the 1900 Exposition Universelle. His plein-air painting centres on reflections in water and shifts of light. He returned to Bohemia in 1918 and was long dismissed at home as an imitator of Monet, before a recent reappraisal.
Giverny
After a spell at Barbizon around 1891 he settled in the Seine valley downstream from Giverny: he bought a former mill, La Bergamotte, at Le Goulet near Vernon, where he worked for more than twenty years. Sources describe him as a friend of Claude Monet; one asserts that Monet allowed him to paint in his garden, a rare favour, but this claim has not been confirmed by an independent source.
Relation with the Hôtel Baudy
An encyclopaedia entry states that he lodged at the Hôtel Baudy on arriving in France, before joining the group of painters staying there around 1891. This claim cites no archival document and could not be corroborated. The house’s collection holds a period photograph filed under his name.
Principal works
Key points
- 1867Born — Kolín, Bohême
- GivernyIn France from about 1889 to 1918
- 1946Died