Valéria Dénes
Hungarian painter.
After her studies, Valéria Dénes joined the artist group Kéve. In 1907 she frequented the artists’ colony of Nagybánya where she joined the avant-garde wave of the younger generation. In 1910 she travelled to Paris with her future husband, Sándor Galimberti, and became a disciple of Henri Matisse. V. Dénes and S. Galimberti influenced each other, the former offering the rhythmic originality of her canvases, and the latter, his understanding of cubism. Her best paintings were still lifes (Nature morte avec des fleurs, 1908-1910), as well as views of Paris.
A group exhibition united the works of the couple at the Salon National in 1914. Morceau de rue (1913) was amongst her paintings, very few of which survive today. In 1915, pneumonia led to her untimely death. Her husband committed suicide on the day of the funeral.
© Éditions des femmes – Antoinette Fouque, 2013
© Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, 2020
