In the history of Neo-Impressionism, Maximilien Luce (1858-1941) has always held an unfortunate position, at the end of the list that inevitably starts with Georges Seurat (1859-1891) and Paul Signac (1863-1935). In art books, he is granted only one or two illustrations – always the same ones, and that is it. As for a retrospective dedicated to his work, museums rarely considered it. Now, finally, one is being held in Montmartre, on the very street where he lived from 1887 to 1900. The exhibition is expansive and nearly comprehensive, featuring more than 100 paintings, drawings, prints and objects adorned by his hand.

It opens with a remarkable series of small portraits he made of his friends – Seurat and Signac, of course, but also Félix Fénéon (1861-1944) and Camille Pissarro (1830-1903). A self-portrait painted around 1910 is close by. The work is unvarnished and unpretentious, sober and simple: the head of a thoughtful man, deeply focused on his art. He stands there, in shirt and jacket, black hat on his head, spectacles on his nose and a cigarette between his fingers. The immediate comparison is with Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), famous for his card players and the gardener Vallier. Luce, naturally, was familiar with Cézanne and took the risk of measuring himself against him in one of the most challenging genres. It is fair to say that Luce acquitted himself admirably.

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