A ray of Parisian sunshine was present at NYU’s La Maison Française on Thursday evening.

“Houses in Provence,” an exhibition of the work of artist Paul Resika, which opened on Thursday, Oct. 18, explored Resika’s somewhat romantic relationship with the French countryside. Quaint houses and seaside verandas were depicted with bright, saturated hues coupled with a brush stroke so enthusiastic that thick swaths of paint curved toward the viewer from the canvas.

Resika began studying in Provincetown, Mass., under the tutelage of renowned German-American abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann when he was 19. Since then, Resika has enjoyed much success and fame in the local art scene.

Resika’s work is featured in the permanent collections of museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Resika and his son, Nathan, were in attendance on Thursday.

“I used to live [near Washington Square] when I was five years old with my dad, so it’s kind of like having an art show almost where you used to live,” Nathan said.

Washington Square resident Flora Hogman attended the show because it reminded her of home.

“I am from Provence, I grew up in Gaas and that’s why I came, because it feels so familiar,” Hogman said. “The light and the sense of being welcome, and the sense of tranquility. There’s an ideal about this area, and this has an impressionistic aspect to it.”

Resika sees creating art as somewhat of a natural process.

“An artist doesn’t get better, and he doesn’t get worse. If he’s an artist, he’s an artist, and if he’s not an artist, he’s not an artist,” Resika said. “People think you become an artist, that you get a style. That’s not true. That’s a misunderstanding. You do not become an artist.
You are an artist.”

Resika’s “Houses in Provence” will be on display at La Maison Française, 16 Washington Mews, through Nov. 15. A second part of Resika’s exhibition titled “Houses in Provence: Works on Paper” will be on view beginning Nov. 19.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Oct. 22 print edition. Helen Holmes is a staff writer. Email her at [email protected].