Available works:
Claude Langevin - "La Rencontre" (The Encounter)
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Claude Langevin, 1942 –
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Claude Langevin is a self-taught artist to whom painting is second nature as he continues to derive great pleasure from his art. His proximity to water, the presence of his cats and above all his faithful old friends in his dear village, Sainte-Adele where he settled 30 years ago, all contribute to the tranquility and peace of mind in Claude Langevin’s paintings.
Born in 1942 to a family of doctors, Langevin first studied medicine at l’Université de Montréal before abandoning academics to become a painter. Interested in art since childhood, he found a job in a commercial gallery producing “quick” paintings working with brush applied oil paints. This intense training allowed Claude to produce paintings in a relatively short time, which becomes very useful when working outside in cold weather where he must quickly seize the essential elements of a landscape. “One must go outside. Nature does not deceive. Nothing clashes in nature, no matter what the season. Colors, tints, nuances, the whole palette is used. Painting on the spot is still the most faithful way to judge the beauty which surrounds us”. After several years he discovered that working this way had refined his technique, helping him to understand his subject and to analyze light and shadow. In a way, he had apprenticed but at the same time was self-taught.
His powers at their peak, Claude Langevin is self confident and content of the course he has taken. His experience permits him to say: “With time, we learn to interpret what we see, to refine it and preserve what we like most in the structure as well as in the colors. We learn to make the most of this magic moment when everything comes together to make a good painting. To wait or to come back later will not give the same result. The distinctive features that identify individual painters are visible in each canvas.
Langevin often finds inspiration riding the bicycle path along the route of the old Laurentian railway. In recent years due to urban sprawl, his surroundings have changed dramatically forcing this landscape artist even deeper into the country in search of inspiration. “When you live in a region for a long time, familiarity diminishes its beauty.”
Born in 1942 to a family of doctors, Langevin first studied medicine at l’Université de Montréal before abandoning academics to become a painter. Interested in art since childhood, he found a job in a commercial gallery producing “quick” paintings working with brush applied oil paints. This intense training allowed Claude to produce paintings in a relatively short time, which becomes very useful when working outside in cold weather where he must quickly seize the essential elements of a landscape. “One must go outside. Nature does not deceive. Nothing clashes in nature, no matter what the season. Colors, tints, nuances, the whole palette is used. Painting on the spot is still the most faithful way to judge the beauty which surrounds us”. After several years he discovered that working this way had refined his technique, helping him to understand his subject and to analyze light and shadow. In a way, he had apprenticed but at the same time was self-taught.
His powers at their peak, Claude Langevin is self confident and content of the course he has taken. His experience permits him to say: “With time, we learn to interpret what we see, to refine it and preserve what we like most in the structure as well as in the colors. We learn to make the most of this magic moment when everything comes together to make a good painting. To wait or to come back later will not give the same result. The distinctive features that identify individual painters are visible in each canvas.
Langevin often finds inspiration riding the bicycle path along the route of the old Laurentian railway. In recent years due to urban sprawl, his surroundings have changed dramatically forcing this landscape artist even deeper into the country in search of inspiration. “When you live in a region for a long time, familiarity diminishes its beauty.”