Paysage imaginaire, Circa 1975

Albert Marquet  

Albert Marquet
Herblay, 1919
Oil on cardboard
32.8 × 40.8 cm
Signed lower right

Painted in 1919, Herblay depicts a quiet stretch of the Seine northwest of Paris. The composition belongs to the river landscapes through which Albert Marquet developed one of the most distinctive approaches to modern landscape painting. Although closely associated with the emergence of Fauvism, Marquet gradually adopted a more restrained practice, retaining the movement's chromatic freedom while subordinating colour to the structure, atmosphere and spatial coherence of the observed site.

The landscape is organised around the curve of the riverbank, which leads the eye from the lower right towards the houses in the distance. The water occupies the left half of the composition, while the road and vegetation form a broad diagonal on the right. Between them, a large tree establishes the principal vertical axis. Its dense green mass interrupts the open expanse of sky and water, anchoring the composition without making it static. The small boats drawn up near the bank provide a discreet transition between land and river, while the distant row of trees establishes the horizon through a succession of simplified vertical accents.

Marquet's economy of means is particularly evident in the treatment of space. Perspective is conveyed less through detailed modelling than through the measured distribution of coloured zones. The pale blue of the sky, the cooler tones of the water, the greens of the vegetation and the warm ochres of the path remain clearly differentiated, yet each participates in the overall luminosity of the scene. The cardboard support contributes to the immediacy of the handling: the paint is applied in broad, supple strokes, with occasional areas of thinner coverage that preserve the freshness of the execution.

The palette is unusually radiant. Turquoise, emerald green, yellow and pale orange are balanced by deeper blue-green passages in the trees and undergrowth. In the foreground, touches of yellow, pink and coral animate the vegetation without becoming descriptive in a botanical sense. They register the effects of light and seasonal growth through colour itself. The houses at the far right are similarly reduced to a few planes of white, ochre, red and violet. Marquet eliminates incidental detail while retaining the essential character of each element.

The apparent simplicity of the scene results from careful construction. The broad sky provides visual openness, while the compact tree and the rising path concentrate the composition on the right. The river introduces lateral movement, and its gently receding shoreline deepens the pictorial space. These directional forces are held in equilibrium by the distant horizon. Marquet thus transforms an ordinary suburban riverside into a precisely ordered field of colour and rhythm.

Painted shortly after the First World War, Herblay conveys a sense of renewed calm without resorting to anecdote or sentiment. Human presence is limited to a small figure near the houses and to the boats along the shore. The landscape appears inhabited, yet remains largely silent. This discretion is characteristic of Marquet's mature work: he observed places as living structures shaped by water, light, architecture and movement, allowing atmosphere to emerge from the relationships between forms.

The work has a particularly well-documented early history. It was acquired directly from the artist by Galerie Druet on 4 November 1919 and transferred two days later to Jos Hessel, an important figure in the Parisian art world. It subsequently passed through Bernheim-Jeune and a succession of notable Parisian and international sales. A certificate issued by the Wildenstein Plattner Institute confirms its forthcoming inclusion in the Albert Marquet Digital Catalogue Raisonné. This documented provenance, together with the inscriptions and historical labels preserved on the reverse, situates Herblay firmly within the artist's recognised body of work.