Henri Lebasque was born in 1865 in Champigne, France. In 1885, Lebasque went to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. After his education, he entered the studio of the artist Pierre Bonnart and participated regularly in exhibitions of the artists' association and in the salons of Paris. At this time, Lebasque had intense contact with young painters, especially Vuillard and Bonnard, the founders of the artists' associations "Les Nabis" (the prophets) and the "Intimists." In 1903, Lebasque and his friend Matisse founded the Salon d'Automne. In 1912, the Salon exhibited works by a group of artists, which, because of its wild style, was later known as "Les Fauves" (wild beasts). Lebasque also took on a similar flatness in his forms and colors, though the effect was subtiler in Lebasque's works. In 1924, he moved to Le Cannet on the French Riviera, where he shared a manikin with his friend Bonnard. The painter Lebasque, called by critics and artists the painter of "joy and light," was admired for the intimacy of his themes and the unique joy in his colors and forms. Henri Lebasque died in Le Cannet, Alpes Maritimes, in 1937. Twenty years after his death, the Musée des Ponchettes in Nice presented the first retrospective of the works of Lebasque.