Moret resided and worked in Brittany alongside Gauguin and the Pont-Aven artists. Throughout his career, Moret rarely left this region of France. In 1889 he had stayed at Marie Poupée’s Inn in Le Pouldu along with Gauguin, who had a great influence on his work. Coastal views where the dominant theme of his work beginning in 1890 when he worked in the Lorient area. In 1895 he signed an agreement with distinguished art dealer Durand-Ruel, which freed him from financial worries. That same year Gauguin left Pont Aven. These events signaled a change in Moret’s style and within the Impressionistic realm his canvases shifted toward the new theories of the Synthetist movement. Moret rarely restrained himself with color or limited himself to a tonal palette. Light played a role in his work but usually as to how much it intensified his color use.
After his death in 1913, Durand-Ruel wrote “…he occupies a unique place in the evolution of art at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, as has been able to fuse together two fundamentally opposing styles: the Synthetism of Pont-Aven and Impressionism.”
This is a rare and powerful composition by one of the most ardent painters of the sea amongst the Post-Impressionists. Gros Temps was painted in Brittany, where Moret resided and worked alongside Gauguin and the Pont-Aven artists. He had a singular vision to depict village folk rounding the corner of a cliff, contrasting the human element against the all-powerful ocean that seems to engulf the picture plane as he usually worked from high vantage points looking down. It stands as one of his most moving and atmospheric works of a great date of 1898, a year after having the strong influence of his colleague Paul Gauguin on his work. An important canvas by the artist, as often he puts a figure in as a footnote, but here he reaches for a more sublime statement about man against the forces of nature. He invites us to address the life of inhabitants in this region who live with great beauty but struggle to carve out a life within it.
Throughout his career, Moret rarely left the Brittany region of France. In 1889 he had stayed at Marie Poupée’s Inn in Le Pouldu along with Gauguin, who had a great influence on his work. Coastal views where the dominant theme of his work beginning in 1890 when he worked in the Lorient area. In 1895 he signed an agreement with distinguished art dealer Durand-Ruel, which freed him from financial worries. That same year Gauguin left Pont Aven. These events signaled a change in Moret’s style and within the Impressionistic realm his canvases shifted toward the new theories of the Synthetist movement. Moret rarely restrained himself with color or limited himself to a tonal palette. Light played a role in his work but usually as to how much it intensified his color use.
After his death in 1913, Durand-Ruel wrote “…he occupies a unique place in the evolution of art at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, as has been able to fuse together two fundamentally opposing styles: the Synthetism of Pont-Aven and Impressionism”
Abels Gemälde-Galerie, Cologne (label verso)
Private Collection, Rhineland, since 1961
This work is accompanied by a photo
certificate of authenticity from Jean-Yves Rollan and will be included in the artist’s catalogue raisonné.