Born in Pairs, Robert Chailloux’s artistic talent was evident from a young age. He attended the Ecole Speciale de Dessin d’Boulevard Belleville in Paris, and then the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs. In his early career, Chailloux painted wonderful pastel and gouache en plein air studies of a variety of French fishing ports, but sadly he developed a very bad curvature of his spine which restricted his mobility and eventually confined him to his studio. In his later life, Chailloux would never part with these en plein air works for he enjoyed the memories they bought back.

All the charm of pastoral France was softly and timelessly captured within Chailloux’s paintings. He delighted in collecting French provincial pottery and his studio was filled with the finest examples. This provided limitless opportunities for their use in his compositions. He labeled each vase or pot meticulously and stored them all in an extremely large cabinet beside his easel. The charmingly depicted rustic fruits captured within his paintings and his beautiful floral subjects were often taken directly from his gardens or carefully selected from the local market. Chailloux always captured the essence of nature and followed the seasons diligently. His compositions display a poetic softness, blending muted colours with bursts of intense pigment. He strived to create truth to nature and artistic perfection on his canvases, leaving a lasting legacy we all continue to enjoy.