Gaston de la Touche (29 October 1854 - 12 July 1913), French painter, sculptor, engraver.
A self-taught artists, he proved an early talent and by the age of ten he already was drawing everyday, in his spare time. Impressed by his determination to become an artist, his parents offered him the much needed financial support and hired a certain M. Paul as the boy's first teacher. Paul, amazed by his precocius talent, taught whatever he could. This period of training came to an end rather quickly, as the Franco-Prussian war began and la Touche's family sought refuge in Normandy. Later in his life la Touche chose to work on his own and never again took formal art lessons from anybody else.
Still, he would be influenced and helped by two older artists, Felix Bracquemond and Edouard Manet.
After the war, Manet, Degas and a group of young artists and writers began meeting at the Cafe de la Nouvelle Athenes, which became their "headquarters" and place to discuss about anything, but especially about art. La Touche was one of the usual presences here, and it was in this local that he met Emile Zola, whom he deeply admired. The artist even made a series of engravings for one of Zola's books.
His first compositions, made in the '80s, were mainly domestic scenes, strongly influenced by the Dutch 17th century painting. Unfortunatelly for la Touche, these first works weren't very popular, so in 1891, furious, the artist burned most of them. He was influenced by Bracquemond, who convinced him to abandon his early manner of painting. After 1890 his style, techniques and colors were strongly influenced by Impressionism. Still, he chose themes and subjects that marked the departure from realism, in favor of an idealism which will define his mature works.
