Collioure

Literature

Yvonne Canu was influenced by the Pointillists school and very strongly so by Georges Seurat and by Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte, in particular. She was actually born in Moracco but studied at the Ecoles des Arts Decoratifs in Paris being forced  to interupt them due to the outbreak of WWII. She later spent time in Montmarte amnd met artists including Francois Gall and Foujita, who introduced her to not only drawing but also plein-air landscpae painting and basic Impressionist trends.

It was not until 1955 when she had met Seurat did she gravitate toward Neo-Impressionism and Pointillism.  The artist’s round brushstrokes of juxtaposed pure colors allowed the viewer to observe this fusing of these colors directly. She adopted the Pointillist technique and applied it to most of her work, primarily of seascapes and harbour scenes. She exhibited extensively after the War and for the rest of her life.

Our painting, Collioure, is in Southern France at a known area in the Pyrenees-Orientales. It’s a charming and colorful depiction of one primary sailboat with its passengers aboard and other boats and hillsides behind it. The right side of the composition shows the Shoreline with small boats parked on the sand and part of the town buildings in the background.