Background
Walter Gay was born on January 22, 1856, in Hingham, Massachusetts, United States. He was a son of Ebenezer Gay and Ellen Blake Blood.
A landscapist Winckworth Allan Gay was his uncle.
Walter Gay was born on January 22, 1856, in Hingham, Massachusetts, United States. He was a son of Ebenezer Gay and Ellen Blake Blood.
A landscapist Winckworth Allan Gay was his uncle.
Walter Gay studied at the Roxbury Latin School.
At the age of twenty, Gay relocated to Paris where he was taught by Leon Bonnat. There, Walter met an artist John Singer Sargent who became his friend.
Bonnat advised his pupil to pursue the artistic training in Spain. While in the country, Gay explored the work of two masters, Diego Velázquez and Mariano Fortuny, whose manner influenced his own style.
The start of Walter Gay’s career can be counted from the Paris Salon of 1879 where he presented one of his work made in a realist mode, ‘Fencing Lesson’.
The next decade, the artist visited Brittany and Barbizon. The trip inspired him to incorporate peasant life subjects on his canvases. In 1885, Gay participated once again in the Paris Salon where his art was marked by an honorable mention. Four years later, Gay represented the United States at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
In the middle 1890s, Walter Gay relocated to Magnanville commune where he created his first interior scenes.
The subsequent years, he successfully exhibited in Vienna, Antwerp, Berlin and Munich.
Gay’s passion for French chateaux pushed him to buy the Château du Bréau. The artist painted its picturesque interiors till the end of his life.
Walter Gay was an accomplished painter who provided the history of art with beautiful and elegant depictions of French chateaux interiors.
Gay’s artistic achievements were marked by many awards during his lifetime, including honorable mentions of Paris Salon and National Order of the Legion of Honour.
While in Paris, Gay taught a lot of young artists from the United States. He even was named ‘Dean of American Artists in Paris’ by New York Times.
Nowadays, the artist’s heritage is included in many well-known collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D. C., the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Albright Art Gallery, the Luxembourg Museum and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London and the Pinakothecq Museum in Munich, Germany.
In 2014, a painting by Walter Gay titled ‘'The Weavers’ was purchased at Christie's for $112,500.
Entrance Hall, Moffatt-Ladd House
Porcelains, Château du Bréau
Library at Château du Bréau
The Boudoir, Château du Bréau
Panneaux Décoratifs
View into the Dining Room, Le Bréau
An 18th Century Salon
Bedroom Interior
Blue and White
The Botanist
The Boucher Room
Charity
Château de Bréau
The Chinese Screen
Cigar Makers of Seville
Field Flowers
The Front Parlor
Grace
The Green Lacquer Room, Museo Correr, Venice
Interior of Palazzo Barbaro, Venice
The King's Bedroom, Vaux-le-Vicomte
La Robertsau
The Lesson
Paintings, Le Bréau
The Living Hall
Matilda Gay Reclining on a Rest Bed (Chateau de Fortoiseau)
Novembre, Etaples
The Open Window, Bréau
The Print Collectors
Society of American Artists , United States
1880
Fine Arts Society
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts , France
1890
Society of Artists and Sculptors
Société des Peintres et des Sculpteurs , France
1897
National Institute of Arts and Letters , United States
1898
National Academy of Design , United States
1904
Walter Gay was an ardent art collector. After his death, the artist’s wife gifted about 200 paintings from the collection to the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Walter Gay met his future wife, Matilda E. Travers, in Paris. Her father, William R. Travers, was a wealthy financier from Wall Street and a co-founder of Saratoga Race Course. Walter and Matilda married in 1889.
