PAUL SIGNAC AND PAINTING IN FRANCE, BELGIUM AND SPAIN AROUND 1900
REGOYOS, Darío de (Ribadesella, 1857 – Barcelona, 1913)
La Concha, Night–time
c. 1906
Oil sobre canvas, 54 x 65 cm
Colección Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza
Regoyos was drawn to nocturnal scenes—both indoors and outdoors—from the very beginning of his career as a painter. This predilection led him to paint many such subjects throughout his life. This night–time view of La Concha beach in San Sebastian, from his mature Impressionist period, was completed during his stay in that city from 1905 to 1906, where he lived at Calle Trueba, 8. Regoyos captures masterfully the classic mood of a sunset in which people are chatting on the a terrace overlooking the placid sea, barely disturbed by a single passing vessel, illuminated against the dark outlines of Mount Igueldo and the Island of Santa Clara.
The play of light and shade is offset against the dark branches in the foreground in the upper left–hand corner. This is a recurring theme in Regoyos, and one that enabled him to produce an exquisite foreground light through the combination of the green in the branches with the light blue, mauve and ochre that fill the rest of the picture. In keeping with his normal practice, the centre of the picture is composed of horizontal and diagonal lines spread very evenly over the painted surface. Again, as almost always in his works, we find human figures evenly distributed around the composition. They express the typical calm and mood of intimacy characteristic of this Impressionist artist’s approach to the human form.
Juan San Nicolás
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