Fishing Boats at Douelan

Henry Moret 1856 - 1913

Summary

This is a brightly coloured impression of fishing boats moored at Douelan in Brittany. The orange sails are reflected in the calm, bright blue water. Below the whitewashed town, a steep meadow and woods extend to a shallow cliff. The blue sky is flecked with small white clouds. Moret trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. In 1888 he moved to Pont-Aven in Brittany, where he worked with a group of painters that included Paul Gauguin. In the 1890s he turned to painting 'impressions', such as this, in which he captures effects of light and movement through bold dabs of colour. By then Moret lived and worked in Douelan, a small village set against an inlet of the sea in Brittany, which was much favoured by English artists.