Oil on canvas
65 x 81.5 cm
Signed lower left
Collioure was the muse of several modernist painters, from Matisse and Derain to Monet and Signac. Hamon is in conversation with all of them here. His, like their, broken brushstrokes help to display the flickering and transient play of light on the water. While his thinner, dappled approach above the horizon, capturing the visual affects of vapour coming off the sea, owes a debt to Monet. The piece bristles with energy and heat and is certainly one of Hamon's very best works.
Adrien Hamon was born in 1875 in Begard in Brittany, and initially joined the Navy becoming a cartographer, whilst also sketching and making watercolours during his travels. Following this he set up a workshop in the small port of Cassis. He became friends with the Provençal painter François Nardi and perfected his technique in his workshop, before later settling in Collioure.
