Fernand Lantoine was a French painter born in Belgium where he lived most of his life. He is influenced by the neo-impressionist aesthetic of Paul Signac, whom he met during his training at the Ecole des Beaux- Arts of Paris. His subjects are first of all inspired by his everyday life in Belgium, scenes of genre and street, landscapes of the mosane valley painted in an austere style.

Appointed naval painter in 1922, Lantoine accompanies the French fleet on numerous voyages in the Mediterranean and North Africa. The discovery of these regions, and later that of Black Africa and the Belgian Congo, durably marks his mind and his art, which is simplified, tends towards a form of abstraction to the detriment of the usual orientalist orientalist.

His painting of a fish market in Djibouti is an exceptional work by Fernand Lantoine, both in size and quality, but also because it belonged to Germaine Le Goff (1891-1986), the 'African White', whose role in Africa for the education of women was fundamental. A sincere lover of Africa, intelligently grasping the problems and stakes of the African world, pioneering her vision of African women, she was entrusted in 1938 with opening the first school of teacher training in Senegal.