Georges Burger (1902-1983) Rue Du Niveau In Périgueux Dordogne

Georges BURGER
(1902 - 1983)
Rue du Niveau in Périgueux
Oil on panel
H. 62 cm; W. 46 cm
Signed G. Burger lower left, and dated 45

Provenance: Sold by the artist at the time the work was created; Private collection, Périgueux.

Like many Alsatians, Georges Burger came to spend the hard years of the Second World War in Périgueux. Trained by Charles Weiss in Strasbourg, whose airy and luminous touch can be found in his work, he produced still lifes and landscapes of Alsace throughout his career. His life and work remain little known today, particularly in Dordogne where he spent at least six years of his life, from 1939 to 1945. Rue du Niveau and its houses spanning the roadway are no more. This street was part of a group in Périgueux called "Les rues neuves", located below the Saint Front cathedral and running to the boulevard along the Isle. Unfortunately destroyed around 1960, this entire district that the municipality considered unsanitary and tamed by the local underworld, gave way to a parking lot and a few modern buildings... These old streets with a medieval appearance of houses huddled together and with pebble-paved floors from the Isle have disappeared forever.

This panel by Georges Burger, made during his last year in Dordogne, is a charming piece, as well as being a little piece of history. The painter uses shades of pink, pale green, light blue, purple and gray. These colors are not commonly used but we find them again at the end of the war, as a sign of hope and lightness. Another painting depicting Rue du Basilic in 1945 was made with similar hues.