Painting of the Day: “Ladies Leaving the French Opera House,” Paul Poincy, 1895

Ladies Leaving the French Opera House
Paul Poincy, 1895
The Louisiana State Museum

A native of New Orleans with French ancestry, Paul Poincy was an integral figure in the Southern American art world. Known for his portraits, landscapes and street scenes, Poincy had a passion for depicting daily life in New Orleans. His paintings serve as records of a time which might have otherwise become largely forgotten.


Poincy’s father, the Marquis Rosignol des Dunes de Poincy, appreciated his son’s artistic talent at an early age and sent him to study painting in Paris. Upon his return to New Orleans in 1859, Poincy took residence in an apartment on Royal Street where he could observe the comings-and-goings of the fashionable and common alike. Poincy founded The Southern Art Union and the Artists’ Association of New Orleans. His love for his city of origin and its people is evident in his work. His painting, Ladies Leaving the French Opera House is testament to this love. The care with which he has rendered this scene of daily life in the French Quarter cannot be missed. If not for Paul Poincy and his fellow artists, such moments would be lost forever.