The Barge 'St. Tropez' in the Harbor of Cannes

Painted in 1926 and held at the National Gallery of Art, this harbour scene documents the barge 'St. Tropez' — a working vessel named for the nearby fishing town that was becoming fashionable with artists and writers — anchored or moored in the pleasure harbour at Cannes. By 1926 Bonnard had settled permanently at Le Cannet and was making regular excursions along the coast, finding in the Mediterranean working harbour a subject that combined his interest in water and reflection with the specific social geography of a landscape where leisure and labour occupied the same space. The barge, a commercial working vessel in a pleasure port, provides a social note that is unusual in his generally non-sociological domestic art. The NGA's holding represents the Washington institution's serious engagement with Post-Impressionist landscape, collected alongside the major Impressionist works that formed the foundation of its French holdings.

The barge's dark hull creates a solid tonal anchor in the composition. The harbour water in Mediterranean blue provides a brilliant surround. Warm stone and ochre of harbour buildings contrast with the intense blue. The handling captures the specific quality of coastal Mediterranean light.