Édouard CORTES

Do you own a piece by Édouard Cortès and would you like to know more about the work and its value? Our Experts will carry out a free appraisal of your painting, provide you with an estimate of the market price, and help you to sell it at the best price.

Status, price and estimation of the artist Édouard Cortès

Price of a painting by Cortès: 1,500 – 50,000€.

Estimate of a drawing or watercolour by the artist for auction: 800 – 12,000€.

If you would like to have a painting by the artist appraised, our experts are at your disposal for a free appraisal.

Cortès: an artist born to paint

His grandfather was a craftsman, while his father, a painter, established his reputation at the Spanish court, a passion for the manual arts passed down from father to son. After attending the Universal Exhibition in France in 1855, Cortès’ father fell in love with the country and settled in Seine-et-Marne. It was in Lagny, a place of inspiration for waves of artists before him, that Édouard and his sister were born.

After attending a public school until the age of thirteen, Cortes studied from 1899 onwards for five years at the National Higher School of Fine Arts. He also worked alongside his father in his studio.

His influences are diverse: from the family heritage, to the painters of Barbizon, to ambient modernism.

Pictorial praise of Paris

The passage through the Salon became a recurring feature of his early career, so much so that Cortès very quickly rose to the forefront of the Parisian artistic scene.

Cortès concentrated on the representation of urban spaces, Parisian landscapes, which he particularly liked. His nocturnal compositions gave him good visibility as early as 1902, the year in which he took part in his first exhibition at the Salon.

He spent most of his career producing in his Lagny workshop. In search of authentic, intense light and atmospheric effects, leads the painter to work from early morning until nightfall. His mastery of the mediums, watercolour, pastel, oil painting, allowed him to work on rendering the moods and beauty of Paris ; the artist never ceased to perfect his art, techniques and methods of representation.

Swept along in the whirlwind of WWI, Cortès was brought to join the battle corps where his painting talents would be a precious resource, particularly in depicting enemy positions.

Upon the death of his wife after he was demobilised, Cortès, father of a two-year-old girl, resumed his life with his sister-in-law and headed for Paris. From 1925 onwards, Normandy became a welcoming land for his art, where he spent part of the Second World War in order to preserve his family from the terrible reality of the conflict.

Cortès: respect for a talented and humble artist

The main artistic events in which Cortès participates are the Autumn Salon, Salon des indépendants, Salon d’hiver, but also a series of exhibitions all over France, Arras, Beauvais, Cannes.

His work resonated as far as the United States and Canada, where an exhibition opened its doors in 1945. Today they are part of French institutions, and Belgium, Canada and Sweden.

A painter full of humility, having praised the graces of the heritage of his ancestors, who died discreetly in 1969 at his home in rue Macheret de Lagny.

Recognising Édouard Cortès’s signature

Like many artists, Édouard Cortès did not sign all of his works. However, you will find below an example of the signatures to give you an idea. Variations of these signatures do exist, do not hesitate to contact one of our experts to formally authenticate a signature.

Appraise and sell a painting by Édouard Cortès

If you own an Édouard Cortès painting or any other sculpture, ask for a free estimate via our online form.

You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent view of the market price of your painting. In the event of a sale, our specialists will also advise you on the various options available to sell your work at the best price.