François Gall

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François Gall (born Ferenc Erdelyi Gall; 22 March 1912 – 9 December 1987) was a Hungarian‑French modern impressionist painter. He was born in Kolozsvár (now Cluj‑Napoca) and moved to Paris in 1936 to study. In early 1939 he returned to his hometown to visit his dying father, and with the outbreak of war he could not return to France. He served as a medic in Wels, Austria, caring for Jewish people. After liberation, he went back to Paris and resumed painting. He became a French citizen in 1949 and married Eugenia Chassaing. They had three children: Lize‑Marie, Jean‑François and Elizabeth‑Anne. In 1954 the family moved to 8 Villa Brune in Paris; Eugenia and the children became subjects in Gall’s work. She died in 1980.

In 1961, while hanging paintings for an exhibition at the Grand Palais, he fell several metres and could not work for over a year. He died in 1987 in Paris.

Gall studied with Aurel Popp in Rome and André Devambez in Paris, and he attended the Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum on a scholarship. His art covers a wide range in modern impressionism, including figures (often women), street scenes, portraits, still life, landscapes and animals. He was influenced by Degas and exhibited widely in Europe. He won medals such as honorable mention (1938) for The Spanish Refugees, silver (1939) at the Salon d’Asnières, gold (1947) for Bread for the People, and silver (1948) for Exodus; his work Honfleur was purchased by the French government. He held leadership roles in the arts world and his works are in museums in Paris, Auxerre, Versailles, Budapest and Vienna. His daughter Marie‑Lize and granddaughter Estelle continue in the arts. In 1989 a committee was formed to manage his estate.