Lot 294 | Armand Guillaumin | "Le Brusc"

GUILLAUMIN, ARMAND
Paris 1841 - 1927

Title: "Le Brusc".
Rock island on the Côte d'Azur.
Date: Around 1901.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 24,5 x 33,5cm.
Notation: Signed lower left: Guillaumin.
Frame: Framed.
Verso: Handwritten title on the canvas: "le Brusc".
On the stretcher various labels, among others of the Kölner Gemälde-Galerie Abels (1962) as well as of the exhibition at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in 1996.

Exhibition:
Vom Spiel der Farbe. Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927). Ein vergessener Impressionist, Exhibition Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Cologne, 24.02. - 05.05.1996, cat. rais. no. G80, with ill.

Provenance:
Collection Dr. M. Schunck, Trier until 1990;
Private ownership, Germany.

Pine trees line the shore of the fishing village of Le Brusc, in front of which a pyramid-like rock rises from the unfathomably blue waters of the Mediterranean. The individual landscape elements of water, sky and earth contrast with each other in strong shades of green, blue and ochre. In between, nuances of turquoise, pink, red and mauve mingle. Armand Guillaumin was often drawn to the small picturesque town between Toulon and Marseille, which was also visited and painted by his artist colleagues Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Eugène Boudin and Paul Signac. Guillaumin repeatedly devoted himself to individual rock formations here and - like his fellow painter Monet - examined them almost systematically in different light and weather conditions. In his open-air painting, he closely observed the change of light and shadow, on the earth as well as on the water, in order to capture moods and atmosphere in his works. The painter is one of the early and important representatives of Impressionism. Together with his artist colleagues and companions Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro, he was already represented at the first Salon des Refusés in 1863. Focusing on the perception of the eye and light in nature, his colourful, expressive paintings are groundbreaking for the development of modern painting.