Venanson III

Venanson III

1964, oil painting on canvas, 81 x 65 cm
Private coll., Brussels
N° inv.1021

During his stay in Saint-Martin-Vésubie in 1962, Bertrand explored the surroundings and discovered Venanson, a remarkable tiny village dominating the Vésubie valley. The road leading to the village reveals all the charms that Bertrand could find there.
As he was imperiously attracted to the shapes, Gaston Bertrand was charmed by the narrow streets of Venanson and Saint-Martin which shape and dig the village rocky promontory just like the gorges do in the valley. He made some beautiful slightly blurred graphite drawings on that theme. The artist’s admiring observation and inventiveness also gave rise to eight watercolours and to the corresponding oil paintings for which he chose new colour ranges.
Bertrand went back to Saint-Martin and Venanson in 1964 and found again the inspiration for twenty graphite or ink drawings and around ten watercolours which later gave rise to almost twenty oil paintings. From this Provencal adventure emerged a new type of composition, which took shape in the Maritime Alps and is far less geometric than the artist’s previous works as it is characterized by some supple delicacy and vertical curves.

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