Watercolour 8
A Southern Port
1925 – 1926
36.2 x 44.5 cm
Glasgow Museums : Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
The vantage point
We are on the east side of the port at the intersection between access to the commercial port and the road leading to the jetty.
This watercolour represents the ‘rue du Soleil’ which is found in the old port, opposite this point. This road is above the Fanal quayside and is one of the oldest in Port-Vendres.
These days boats of the sea rescue, the harbour pilots, the customs officers, and fishermen are moored on the Fanal quayside. This section of the port was largely reconstructed after the second world war.
Pictorial analysis
The solution adopted for the treatment of the water and its reflections show beautifully the delicate palette of Mackintosh. The water surface is cut into an infinity of surfaces where the verticals dominate (grey coloured and warm) cut between by an interval of motifs in the form of arabesques of a cold blue.