"Alfred Stevens (1823 – 1906) Belgian- The pier, Le Havre, 1881."
Oil on panel, signed and dated "Sept. 81»
Dimensions: 26 cm x 41 cm, with frame 48 cm x 61 cm
In 1880, the painter experienced difficulties: the beginnings of a new style of painting, Impressionism, questioned his pictorial approach. His doctor sends him to Menton, he travels to the north of France.
Berthe Morisot pushes him towards Impressionism which he adopts in his paintings, whose sensitivity and modernity are in every way similar to those of Jongkind.
Alfred Stevens painted the present painting in 1881 at this time of pictorial upheavals. It represents the pier near Le Havre, a place of pleasure in Sainte-Adresse made famous by the painters (Raoul Dufy, Claude Monet to name only them). It gives wide areas of color, the sea is adorned with an avant-garde material. The shades of gray are punctuated by a few sailboats and the wooden pontoon, the pier. The grasses of the dune are suggested by brush strokes. The sand disappears, it's high tide.
The back of the panel indicates that the painting was put up for sale as part of the Ischia raffle, to raise funds to help the victims of 1883.
Bibliography:
In 1886, he wrote the famous Impressions on Painting, the book was a great success and was translated into several languages:
. Alfred Stevens, Impressions on painting, Paris, Librairie des Bibliophiles, 1883, 96 pages.
. "The Illustrated World", August 18, 1883, p. 1-3.
Museums: Antwerp, Brussels, Boston , London, New York, Winchester, Munich, Nantes, Nancy, Pontoise