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

  1. “Mackintosh presents a direct view of the harbour edge, its ramparts and buildings. His focus was the striated patterns created by their reflections in the eddying sea. The work was sold by the Leicester Galleries, London, in 1928, although it cannot be said with any certainty that it was exhibited there at that time.” Translated from the English with the kind permission of the author: Professor Pamela Robertson – University of Glasgow.
  2. Mackintosh seems to be fascinated by the reflections that he has treated, as always, the brilliant graphiste. Two levels of the composition are consecrated.

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.

How to get there

Partager :

Like this:

Like Loading...