Collection M. Elkaim, 2009, selon Éric Turquin

Galerie Éric Turquin, Paris

Acquis auprès de cette dernière par l'actuel propriétaire en avril 2010

Collection Louis Grandchamp des Raux

M. Dieterle, C. Lebeau, Sixième supplément à l’oeuvre de Corot par A. Robaut et E. Moreau-Nélaton (Paris, 1905), 2018, n° 62, reproduit p.62

As written on the reverse side of the canvas, our painting depicts a view of Bourg d’Ault, near Le Tréport in the Somme. The specialist for the artist, Martin Dieterle, dated this work to circa 1860. Under a clear bright sky, two women face each other on a dirt path, one is holding a basket, the other is accompanied by a child. A village spreads out below, and in the distance lies the sea.

During the last fifteen years of his life, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot regularly used a colour palette made up of silvery blues, greens and ochre. This chromatic range brings to the works an atmosphere of gentleness and calm.

Fascinated by the light of the Channel coast, Corot produced other views of the region around the same time, notably Le Tréport, Maison Dominant la Mer (1), where we find the same balance between discreet figures and a plunging perspective towards the sea. Through these stationary figures and the barely visible sea, the artist invites us to enter his poetry of light and silence, paving the way for Impressionism. 

1.Alfred Robaut, L’œuvre de Corot: catalogue raisonné et illustré, Paris, H. Floury, tome II, n° 856.