Chaïm Soutine

Chaim Soutine was a Lithuanian-born artist who became one of the leading figures of the School of Paris in the early 20th century. He was known for his unique style of expressionist painting, which focused on the emotional intensity and raw energy of his subjects.

Soutine was born in the town of Smilavichy, near Minsk, in what is now Belarus. As a child, Soutine showed a talent for drawing and painting, but his family discouraged him from pursuing art as a career. Nevertheless, he left home in his late teens and eventually ended up in Paris, where he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts.

In Paris, Soutine was exposed to the work of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, but he was particularly drawn to the work of Vincent van Gogh, whose bold use of color and expressive brushstrokes had a profound influence on Soutine's own style. Soutine began to develop his own unique style of painting, which emphasized the physicality of his subjects and their emotional intensity.

Soutine's early paintings were often of still lifes and landscapes, but he soon began to focus on portraits, particularly of his fellow immigrants in Paris. He painted many portraits of cooks and waiters, as well as of children and other working-class people. His paintings were often distorted and exaggerated, with elongated limbs and distorted features, reflecting Soutine's interest in the inner lives of his subjects.

Despite his growing reputation in artistic circles, Soutine lived in poverty for much of his life, and his work was not widely appreciated during his lifetime. He struggled with poor health and mental illness, and he was constantly in debt. Nevertheless, he continued to paint, producing some of his most iconic works in the years leading up to the Second World War. 

Soutine died in Paris in 1943, at the age of 50, reportedly from a stomach ulcer exacerbated by the stress and deprivation of the war years. Despite his difficult life, Soutine remains one of the most important and influential artists of the 20th century, known for his powerful and emotionally charged paintings.