Hut by the sea shore (Cabane au bord de la mer)

Guigou was a self-taught artist who had trained as a notary before dedicating himself to his painting. A legal apprenticeship brought him to Marseille in 1853-1854 and his earliest paintings depict the environs of this town and show him working early on en plein air. His sketches attracted the attention of Emile Loubon who was director of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and, through him, Guigou met Monticelli and began to exhibit in the Société Artistiques des Bouches-du-Rhone. In 1860 he moved to Paris and concentrated on his paintings.
Guigou exhibited in the Salon from 1863-1870, and posthumously in 1872. In 1868, the year before he painted Hut by the Sea Shore, Guigou was singled out along with Camille Pissarro for the quality of his work in the Salon by Jules Castagnary. This same year he received a bronze medal at the Exposition Internationale du Havre to which Courbet, Manet, Monet and Boudin had also sent paintings. In 1869, he was introduced to Thodore Duret, a leading advocate for the future Impressionists. While Guigou was never formally associated with the group, his paintings show him independantly focusing on some of the same concerns, working en plein air and using fluid technique to capture the impression of the moment. He found inspriration in the environs of the south of France and painted several views of Martigues and Marseille in 1869.