The MACKINTOSHs had heard from close friends Rufolf Ihlee and Edgar Hereford residing in COLLIOURE that life was cheap there. Mackintosh had the idea of ​​starting to paint the landscapes and particularly the villages he discovered during his journey in Roussillon. It was probably at the beginning of the summer of 1924 that the couple decided to settle there for a short stay.

The vantage point

We are at the intersection of Avenue du Général De Gaulle and Rue de la Démocratie where the small Place Jean Jaurès is located. The painting was certainly made in front of and slightly overhanging the sloping bank of the Royal castle looking towards the South, South-West, towards a group of houses and the Place Jean Jaurès.

The painting represents typical Collioure houses of two or three floors, narrow, attached to each other, with red tiled roofs and wrought iron balconies. They are dominated in the background by cultivated hills. We can still recognize some of these houses today.

Pictorial analysis

1. “This view shows Place Jean Jaurès and Rue de la Démocratie on the left. Late afternoon light casts long shadows on the facades, emphasizing the angular roofline and gables of the buildings, a theme Mackintosh also explored in the right section of “Collioure”. On the other hand, the foreground and the background of the landscape are treated succinctly/in outline. Mackintosh here gives a rare glimpse of human activity through the figures gathered around the tables in the street outside the corner café.”

Translated from English by kind permission of the author: Professor Pamela Robertson – University of Glasgow – translation S.Plas

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