The last of the month’s summer pictures is a seascape by the French artist Andre Derain. Boats in the Port of Collioure, one of the most vibrantly colourful works of the painter’s early career, can currently seen at the Royal Academy in the exhibition “Masters of Colour: Masterpieces from the Merzbacher Collection”.
The origins of Derain’s incandescent picture can be traced to a postcard written to him by his friend, the slightly older painter Henri Matisse, in June 1905. Matisse was keen for Derain to join him in Collioure, a French village on the Mediterranean about 20 miles from the border with France. “A trip here is absolutely necessary for your work,” Matisse wrote. “You will find here the most advantageous conditions.” Derain promptly took up the invitation and arrived on 8 July. The two artists worked side by side throughout the rest of the summer, responding to the strong light and bright colours of the south, encouraging one another in their shared search for a new painting style to mirror the adventurous spirit of the new century.
Before becoming a landmark in the development of early modern painting, Collioure was a fishing village principally noted for its abundance of mussels. On arrival, Derain was instantly struck by the effect of the harsh, bright sunlight, which seemed to eradicate tonal contrasts and concentrate visual experience to a series of vivid accents of intense colour. He was fascinated by the orange and chrome yellow colours of the sun-scorched landscape, but “more than anything,” he wrote, “it is the light. The blonde, golden light which suppresses shadows… There is so much to do… everything I’ve done until now seems stupid.”
Painting in France was in a state of ferment at the start of the twentieth century. Late Impressionism, in the increasingly...
