Rocks in Belle-Ille

Rocks in Belle-Île from 1904, now in the National Museum in Warsaw, depicts the exposed granite coastline of Belle-Île-en-Mer, the island off the Brittany coast where Monet had also painted famously in 1886. The comparison between Monet's Impressionist Belle-Île series and Ślewiński's Post-Aven Synthétist approach to the same terrain illuminates the difference between the two approaches: Monet dissolving the rocks in atmospheric light, Ślewiński simplifying them into bold, outlined forms that assert their structural mass against the surrounding sea.

The rocks provide Ślewiński with massive, geometrically simplified forms — angular planes of granite catching or blocking the Atlantic light — that suit his Synthétist approach perfectly. The contrast between rock mass and the surrounding sea is exploited for maximum pictorial impact through strong tonal and colour differentiation between the two elements.