Rochers de l’Ile Besse, Agay 1914

Curator: Armand Guillaumin's "Rochers de l’Ile Besse, Agay," created in 1914, presents us with a vivid landscape rendered in oil paint. Editor: My first impression is a sense of warmth. The strong oranges and reds of the rocks really contrast with the cooler blues of the water, creating a dynamic yet balanced composition. Curator: Precisely. Guillaumin's post-impressionistic style is evident in the way he manipulates colour and light. Notice how the brushstrokes themselves construct form; each dab and stroke contributing to the overall structure of the image. Editor: And it is interesting how this plein-air style painting, where he worked outside on location, captures a sense of the rugged landscape. What was it like working as a Post-Impressionist, using such an accessible method, yet at the beginning of World War One? Curator: He really embraces materiality here; the textured surface implies the ruggedness of the landscape, from the coarse rocks to the bristled branches of the trees. The composition uses nature in the foreground as framing elements leading the viewer toward the sea. Editor: The intensity of those red rocks really commands attention and their materiality becomes apparent, you can practically feel the warmth radiating from them under the Provencal sun. Curator: Indeed, the juxtaposition of colours serves to accentuate the inherent qualities of both land and sea. A dichotomy of both form and symbolism as nature becomes both soft, and harsh. Editor: Seeing how the painting itself becomes almost sculptural in places; you realize that this kind of labour demanded an intimacy and a sense of physicality that someone sitting in a studio may not have been able to imagine. It changes your understanding of it as just art or decoration to the idea of lived labour. Curator: A wonderful point. This work allows us to see the landscape not merely as a vista, but also a construction of colour and light. Editor: I completely agree; seeing the world as work and art offers fresh ideas when trying to grasp the scale of these landscape scenes.