Portret van een man

1885–1890

Apprenticeship with a Stained-Glass Maker

At fourteen he was apprenticed to a master painter and restorer of stained glass. This experience is considered a likely source of the heavy black contours and glowing colors of Rouault's mature painting.

c. 1895

Turn to the Catholic Faith

After an emotional crisis in 1895 or later, he became a devout Catholic; the Christian faith defined the principal themes of his mature work.

1898

Curator of the Gustave Moreau Museum

After the death of his teacher Gustave Moreau, whose favorite pupil he had been, he was appointed curator of the Moreau Museum in Paris.

1903

Co-Founder of the Salon d'Automne

Having become acquainted with Moreau's pupils Matisse and Marquet, he became one of the founders of the Salon d'Automne.

1910

Solo Exhibition at the Galerie Druet

Rouault's first solo exhibition was held at the Galerie Druet in Paris. His painting was studied by the German artists who would later form the core of Expressionism.

1917

Contract with Ambroise Vollard

For the artist, who had been living in dire poverty, a contract with the collector and dealer Ambroise Vollard secured decades of material comfort and freedom in his work.