Valentine Val

 

Valentine Val (French painter) 1870 - 1943

aka Val-Synave; Valentine-Synave-Nicolaud Val

Roses, 1889 (a pair)

oil on canvas

91 x 31.5 cm. (35.75 x 12.5 in.) (each)

one signed and dated 'Val 89' (lower right)

private collection

© photo Christie's

Valentine Anna Micolaud known as Valentine Val, born in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode on September 23 , 1870 and died in Paris 17 th the April 18, 1943, is a French painter of Belgian origin.

Daughter of a Brussels merchant living in Paris after the war of 1870, Valentine Val is first the model of Auguste Renoir, then his pupil. Around 1890, she became the companion of Charles Fray (1858-1939), a Parisian banker familiar with Renoir, and began to paint, after having followed the teaching of Eugène Carrière. Her canvases representing still lifes and bouquets of flowers are particularly appreciated. She also paints landscapes and some portraits.

She left Charles Fray in 1911 to marry December 26, 1912 the painter and illustrator Tancrède Synave and therefore takes the artist name of Val-Synave.

She held an artistic and social salon at her home in Paris, avenue des Ternes, where she received the artists and intellectuals of her time. Édouard Vuillard painted several portraits of Valentine Val.

Died at the age of 72, she is buried in the Montmartre cemetery alongside her parents 10 , Charles Fray, her first husband, and their son René who died prematurely at the age of 13.