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Les Caloges, Etretat by Henri Matisse is one of those images that never dates. Our studio recreates it as a hand painted oil painting — textured, color-rich, and ready to hang as canvas wall art in a living room, study, or reception area.
1920
Oil on Artist's Board
Painted in 1920, Les Caloges, Etretat is a testament to a period of change in Matisse's oeuvre. He had left Paris three years before, exhausted by the years of war, distraught at having seen his son and his friends leave for the front. Now based in Nice, he could breathe life back into his painting, which had recently become reduced to nervous pieces, executed rapidly as if charged with the troubled atmosphere of the time. The end of the war brought with it an end to any appetite among Matisse's contemporaries for complicated artistic experimentation and many experienced the same desire for calm, a return to a lost equilibrium, to more traditional and reassuring values, with the technique becoming more direct and the subject-matter more figurative.
The quest for "reconciliation between reality and appearances" would lead Matisse in the footsteps of the Realist master Gustave Courbet who, fifty years prior, had majestically painted La Falaise d'Etretat après l'orage (1870; Musée d'Orsay, Paris). Hungry for freedom and open space, Matisse observed nature and variations in light at length, becoming as enthusiastic as if he had just discovered the sight of the sea. His technique was never more brilliant and yet stripped of pomp, more limited in its resources, bold but never brutal in its colours. The balance seen in the present composition is born from an impression of movement and fluidity between bold contrasts: the silhouettes of the figures and the "caloges" (fishermen's shanties whose roofs were formed from upturned dinghies) seem to intersect on the sand, like shadow puppets of a pure, almost brilliant, black. Here Matisse interpreted Nature with a forthright directness, and the scene is imbued with the atmosphere of the surroundings, suggestive of changing light, perhaps stormy weather, and certainly the painter's enthusiasm and love for the landscape.
Every hand painted oil painting in this fine art series is finished on artist-grade canvas and checked against the original before it leaves the studio.
This is a genuine hand painted oil painting, not a canvas print. Our painters match the palette of Les Caloges, Etretat by eye and build up the fine art forms in thin layers, which is what gives the finished fine art oil painting its luminosity.
Hang this fine art oil painting above a sofa, console, or bed to give a living room an instant focal point. Its fauvist palette works with both minimalist and period interiors, and the piece also makes a considered gift for housewarmings, weddings, and art lovers.
| Size | Price |
|---|---|
| 20 X 24 in | $47.98 |
| 24 X 36 in | $77.98 |
| 30 X 40 in | $104.48 |
| 36 X 48 in | $149.48 |
| 48 X 72 in | $291.98 |
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.
Free on orders over $60; a flat $5 below that. Dispatched in 1–2 business days; 30 days to send it back. Full policy.
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.
