Ernest Laurent was a French painter, draughtsman, and lithographer born in Gentilly. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was influenced by the Impressionists, becoming friends with George Seurat and Henri Le Sidaner.

In 1885, his painting was purchased by the French State at the Salon, which enabled him to travel to Italy, where he had a profound mystical experience in Assisi that had a lasting influence on his art.

Laurent's artwork style is characterized by his impressionist technique and his intimate portrayal of women, whom he associates with flowers and the mysteries of the inner life. He puts an intimate poetry in the atmosphere with which he surrounds his models in their daily life, in the living r...