Original painting on canvas by French artist Alain Despert (1943–2024), titled “La Fee Verte” (The Green Fairy). Signed lower left “Alain Despert” and signed, titled, and dated 2000 on reverse. Depicts the Green Fairy alongside a large Absente bottle in Despert’s distinctive colorful pointillist style.
This imagery was created as part of Despert’s Absente advertising work commissioned by liquor executive Michel Roux. Artist records specifically document the Absente/Green Fairy project and its use in magazine advertising.
Good overall displayed condition with minor expected wear. Previously displayed condition with light wear and surface markings. Please reference all photos for full condition details.
Measurements: 26 3/4" x 32 1/4" x 3/4". Weight: 3.4 lbs
Alain Despert (1943–2024) was a celebrated French-American contemporary artist renowned for his vibrant, colorful paintings deeply inspired by the island of Bora Bora. As a self-taught master of color and form, his distinct visual style effortlessly fused figurative art with abstraction.
From the collection of Michel Roux, the liquor icon. One of Mr. Roux’s signature spirits at Crillon was absinthe, the anise-flavored spirit known for its popularity among 19th-century artists like van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec. It was banned by the United States in 1912 amid concerns that wormwood, one if its ingredients, which contained thujone, caused hallucinations. In 2000 Mr. Roux introduced a legal absinthe, Absente, which used a sister botanical, Southern wormwood, with only trace amounts of thujone.
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