At 91, Henri Landier continues to paint with the passion that has driven his work for more than 70 years. His studio, tucked behind a heavy green door in Montmartre, Paris, stands as one of the neighborhood’s remaining traditional artist ateliers, evoking the more modest artistic life of earlier eras. Landier’s workspace, located near the site of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s first studio, is marked by pale natural light, lush greenery lining the walls, and mismatched furniture where visitors can meet the artist by appointment.
Landier is currently exhibiting a retrospective show titled "From Drawing to Painting," running through October 25. The exhibition spans his long career and includes early black-and-white engravings of Paris alongside recent oil self-portraits and vibrant watercolors of flowers. A sweeping panorama of Chanteloup-les-Vignes, a town northwest of Paris, is displayed on an upper wall.
His artistic journey began in childhood, inspired by seeing Rembrandt’s works in the Louvre. Although his father, a master jeweler, expected him to follow in the family trade, Landier set out to become a painter instead, leaving home at 17 to live in a modest shack in Montmartre without basic amenities. He studied printmaking at Paris’s School of Applied Arts and the School of Fine Arts, often living in poverty. In the mid-1950s, after working as a trainee sailor and ship’s officer to support himself, he returned to Paris with modest savings—but initially sought to destroy his early works in frustration. A friend intervened, preserving some of those pieces that now reside in his collection.
Over the decades, Landier has created an estimated 5,000 paintings and 2,000 engravings. His early work reflected the somber tones of a childhood shaped by World War II, but he later embraced brighter, more diverse themes. He credits poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert for encouraging him to move beyond tragedy and celebrate the beauty of life in his art. His subjects have ranged from nudes and portraits to landscapes inspired by travels across Europe, including Provence, Champagne, Venice, Tuscany, Prague, and Normandy; however, he has never visited New York, which he found overwhelming.
Landier is not represented by a traditional gallery but manages his work independently with the assistance of an office manager and an accountant. His paintings and engravings are sold directly to collectors, with prices ranging from about 190 euros ($210) for small self-portrait engravings to 45,000 euros ($50,000) for large oil paintings. In recent years, he has expanded into merchandise, offering reproductions of his floral paintings on silk scarves and cushions.
His work has been exhibited worldwide, including more than 160 shows from Tokyo to New Jersey. French Ambassador to India Thierry Mathou has praised Landier’s depictions of France’s people and landscapes as an ode to the nation’s past and present. Among his patrons is Camille Oostwegel Sr., a Dutch luxury hotel owner and art collector who has hosted multiple exhibitions and holds some 30 Landier paintings.
Despite international recognition, Landier acknowledges that figurative painting has fallen out of favor in Paris, where he feels his work is less celebrated than abroad or in the French provinces. After closing a small Montmartre retail space last December, he remains cautious about gallery representation but remains open to working with honest dealers. "I have my independence now," he said. "People can come directly to meet me. There is a permanence here. There is a spirit. I'm an old man and I'm happy. And I have a lot more painting to do."