In 1720 a meeting took place between a great French Artist, Chardin, and a modest color merchant, Charles Leclef who was a direct ancestor of the Lefranc Firm. Chardin needed someone to grind paints, which was historically done by the artist or their apprentice. Leclef decided to take on the task to improve Chardin’s color. This was an entirely new development and gave rise to what is now known as the Fine Arts Industry.

Few color companies have the world wide reputation earned by Lefranc & Bourgeois. For the most part, poor marketing and French wording has kept most American painters in the dark. Make no mistake Lefranc is one of the world’s true treasures in color and now we are able to offer it to you for a price you simply can’t afford to miss. The oil color that was supplied to Chardin, Millet, Monet, Cezanne, Dufy and Picasso is now available in a modern version for absolute permanence and peek performance.

The French palette is both unique and breathtaking. All 80 colors (71 with just one or two pigments) are highly concentrated to have a high tint-ing strength capable of allowing a full gradation of shades, and are reliably lightfast. The colors are expertly ground to a creamy and even consis-tency ground in traditional triple roller mills. They are perfect for painting right out of the tube.