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Looking for wildlife oil painting with real brushwork? Cliffs of Aval, the Fishermen - Etretat is reproduced by hand in oils on artist-grade canvas after Henri Matisse. The result is a piece of fauvist oil painting wall decor that anchors a dining room and rewards a closer look.
Falaises d'Aval, les pecheurs - étretat, 1920
Oil on canvas board
Painted during Matisse's visit to the Normandy coast in the Summer of 1920, Falaises d'Aval, les pecheurs - Etretat, is a fresh and vibrant depiction of the breathtaking cliffs at Etretat (Fig. 1), the same cliffs which had inspired first Courbet and then Monet from the 1880s. The chalky cliffs curved out from the town in a cresent-like form before rising to great heights, their multicoloured, striated surfaces capped by contrasting lush greens. The d'Aval of the title is the spectacular arch at the northern extremity of the cliff and visible in the present work.
The infusion of light, colour and the obvious joy in which Matisse took in painting the cliffs at Etretat in Summer 1920 was certainly observed by the art critic Charles Vildrac, who in October of the same year, wrote in the catalogue that accompanied the first public exhibition of Falaises d'Aval, les pecheurs - Etretat: "You experience at once both the light and the landscape, unable to disassociate them. The impalbable gauze that here and there finishes drying and polishing the sky, the beach, the cliffs, the horizon, the boat resting on the pebbles...you see all that in a single, absolutely simple image. Thus do Matisse's landscapes appear to me: and thus it seems, did Nature appear to him, touched by the miracle of a suddenly rediscovered light, the miracle lies in the painter's vision and in the power that he has to reproduce it" (C. Vildrac, quoted in exh. cat., Exposition Henri Matisse, Galerie Berheim Jeune, Paris, 1920). The painting was purchased at the close of the exhibition by the collector Dr Soubiès for 7,000 FFr, who by 1928 had collected 23 works by Matisse as well as important works by Cézanne and Monet.
Lord Berners (Fig. 2), who seems have shared Soubiès' love of modern French masters, was the second collector to own Falaises d'Aval, les pecheurs - Etretat, which he purchased circa 1931. Berners' biographer, Mark Amory, lists the artists he admired: 'Corot (early Corot), Delacroix, Géricault, Monet, Ingres, Sisley, Cézanne, Matisse' (M. Amory, quoted in Lord Berners the last eccentric, London, 1999, p. 106). Berners' appreciation of 'the directness and simplicity of Corot's early painting' which to him 'seems the perfect method of dealing with landscape' might have encouraged Berners' interest in the harmony of colour and light found in Matisse's paintings between 1920-1925. Amory notes in July 1927 Lord Berners 'regarding a Matisse fixedly through his eyeglass at the Contempory Art Society', the present work however, was probably purchased from Alexander Reid of Reid & Lefevre, who, a friend remembers, 'used to come down to Faringdon (Berners' seat in Berkshire) with some Corots on trial for about a month' (Ibid., p. 108).
Lord Berners lent Falaises d'Aval, les pecheurs - Etretat, to the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1931, for inclusion in the first great Amercian retrospective exhibtion of Matisse's painting.
Every hand painted oil painting in this wildlife series is finished on artist-grade canvas and checked against the original before it leaves the studio.
From primer to varnish, the work is done manually on artist-grade canvas. The absence of digital printing is deliberate: it keeps the wildlife brushwork visible and gives the fauvist oil painting wall decor a museum-like finish.
As dining room wall art, this canvas brings color and texture without visual noise. It scales well from a small study to a large dining room feature wall, and it is a reliable choice when shopping for wildlife oil painting as a gift.
Browse our Henri Matisse Paintings selection for related wildlife canvases, or commission this wildlife image in a custom size. Every order is a hand painted oil painting, never a printed poster.
| Size | Price |
|---|---|
| 20 X 24 in | $58.48 |
| 24 X 36 in | $91.98 |
| 30 X 40 in | $123.48 |
| 36 X 48 in | $176.98 |
| 48 X 72 in | $329.48 |
The sizes shown are the reproduction canvas sizes we paint to order. The dimensions given in a work's description refer to the original artwork and will differ from the sizes offered here. Not sure? Read the size guide or e-mail us.
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Every canvas is painted by hand in oils on artist-grade stretched canvas, with an extra blank border left for framing. How to care for your painting.
Measurements are on the size guide, or e-mail [email protected] and we reply within one business day.
