Félix Fénéon

Félix Fénéon was among the most important art critics of the late nineteenth century—champion of Neo-Impressionism, anarchist, gallery director, and the individual who coined the term 'Neo-Impressionism' itself. Maximilien Luce, a committed anarchist himself and close associate of Fénéon's, painted this 1901 portrait as a document of their political and artistic alliance. Fénéon had spent time in prison following the 1894 anarchist bombing trials, and his subsequent gallery work at Bernheim-Jeune shaped the careers of Matisse, Bonnard, and Vuillard. The Musée d'Orsay's acquisition placed this portrait appropriately within the national collection of French modernism.

Luce applies his Divisionist pointillist technique to the portrait, using small colour touches to build Fénéon's image from optical mixture rather than blended paint. The sitter's sharp, sardonic face is rendered through a technique he had done so much to promote and theorise—an appropriate formal choice.