Albert Marquet arrived in Paris in 1890. He was a student in the Arts Decoratifs Academy with Matisse, before joining the National Academy of Beaux-Arts in Gustave Moreau’s studio. Following Moreau's advice, Marquet made copies of works by Poussin, Le Lorrain and Watteau in the Louvre. Matisse and Marquet discovered Impressionists at Durand-Ruel’s gallery. This revelation led them to paint in Arcueil and the Jardin du Luxembourg in 1897. They painted landscapes transposed in fresh colour, reminding of Fauvism. 

In 1901, he exposed at the Salon des Independents in Paris, and in 1904 at the Salon d’Automne. He participated in numerous exhibitions outside of France (Moscow, Kiev, Saint-Petersburg, in United-States, Hamburg and Montréal). His first solo show was in 1907 at the Druet Gallery in Paris. The same year, he painted Sergent de la coloniale (Bordeaux Museum), with contrasted colouring but with more flexibility in style and delicacy in the shading of colours. He also painted parisian landscapes such as the Quai des Grands-Augustins, Quai des Orfèvres, Quai Saint-Michel, which he presented under various lighting, diurnal or nocturnal, following different seasons.

His meetings with Matisse, Dufy and Camoin allowed him to expose his paintings in Fauve’s room at the Salon d’Automne in 1905. His fauvism only lasted a short time. He was fulfilled as painter of landscapes with greys harmony, seeking suitable light.

Between 1910 and 1914, he painted uncompromisingly – with lucidity and irony – some nudes and some of naked women (Les Amies, 1912, La Femme Blonde, 1912). He also made a few portraits (Marcelle Marty, Madame Marquet).

Marquet, represented in many museums all around the world and especially at M.N.A.M and Bordeaux Museum, is well know mostly for his landscapes: “From Paris to Hambourg," wrote his friend George Besson, "from Naples to Oslo, from Marseille to Pirée, from Venice to Alger, in one hundred towns in Europe and Africa, where stand crane and docks, smoke tug, lengthen platform and side, where mast swing and luminous shine born, Marquet imposes his touching or charming vision.”