The vantage point

We are on the road towards the jetty on the south east shore of the harbour, between the Fort Mailly and the Fort Bear, looking over to the other side of the harbour.

This watercolour represents, in the foreground, a rock and in the background, on the other side of the harbour, the quay Fanal (Lantern Quay) and part of the Anse Gerbal (Gerbal Beach).

Pictorial analysis

1. “The painting of The Rock is regularly documented in ‘The Chronycle’ . (Letters from CRM to his wife, Margaret, in May/June 1927). To this very ‘inorganic’ foreground, Mackintosh contrasts a more colourful background, which contrasts beautifully with the gray shades of the mass of rock. This striking but modest cluster of lightly metamorphosed siltstone sits in Anse Bear, and is now cut into by a new walkway. Mackintosh would have passed it on his regular visits to Fort Mailly. The background is a view of Port-Vendres, looking more to the south-west, with the rue du Soleil stretching into the middle distance at left, and the shore and the boats seen in “The Little Bay” to the right.” Translated from English with the kind authorisation of the author, Professor Pamela Robertson, University of Glasgow. 
2. There are two contrasting planes linked by the blue surface of the sea. The foreground is very graphic, very stylized and even decorative; the light coming from the left plays an important role:  We see a network of clear surfaces that we find in reduced form in the background (gables of the houses in the form of parallelograms or sharp bands corresponding to the terraced houses on the hill). We see a network of clear surfaces that we find in reduced form in the background (gables of the houses in the form of parallelograms or sharp bands corresponding to the terraced houses on the hill).

To this very ‘inorganic’ foreground, Mackintosh contrasts a more colourful background, which contrasts beautifully with the gray shades of the mass of rock

Historical guideline

At one time this (Little Bay) as not concreted over and fishermen beached their little boats here.

How to get there