Achille Laugé was born the same year as Bourdelle and Maillol, who would later become his friends. He trained to be a pharmacist in Toulouse, according to his parents' wishes, but also studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he met Bourdelle. In 1881 he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris to study in the studio of Alexandre Cabanel and Jean-Paul Laurens, where he met Maillol. He gave lodging to Bourdelle and did his military service in Paris. He left Paris in 1888 and from 1889 had a studio in Carcassonne, where he formed numerous friendships. Two years after the death of his wife, whom he had married in Cailhau in 1891, he himself died: the same year as Maillol.

By the time he left Paris, Laugé had adopted the Divisionist touch championed by the Neo-Impressionists, and adhered to it more or less closely throughout his career. From 1905, in order to paint in situ, he procured a studio-caravan. For several years from 1916 onwards he had a base in Alet (Aude) and from 1926 spent the summer months in Collioure. From 1932 he had a studio in Paris and lived next door to his friend Bourdelle. In 1913 and 1926 he produced tapestry designs in response to commissions from the Gobelins tapestry manufactory.

Laugé exhibited three paintings in Paris at the 1894 Salon des Indépendants and the same year featured in an exhibition alongside Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Sérusier, Roussel, Toulouse-Lautrec and Vuillard in Toulouse. In 1900 a large composition by him was rejected by the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and in 1908 he was rejected by the Salon d'Automne. Laugé had his first solo exhibition in Paris in 1907, followed by many others (1911, 1919, 1923, 1927, 1929, 1930). He also showed collections of his works in 1926 in Toulouse and Perpignan. In 1968 he featured in the exhibition on Neo-Impressionism at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Other retrospective exhibitions took place at the following: the Musée de Limoux (1958); the Musée des Grands-Augustins in Toulouse (1961); London (1966); New York (1967); London (1968); and Paris (1969).

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Carcassonne (MBA)
Limoux (Mus. Petiet)
Montauban (Mus. Ingres)
Montpellier (Mus. Fabre)
Paris (MNAM-CCI)
Perpignan (Mus. Hyacinthe-Rigaud)
Toulouse (MBA, Mus. des Augustins)