Le Quai Duquesne à Dieppe

Le Quai Duquesne à Dieppe documents the busy harbor quay of Dieppe, the Norman port city on the English Channel that had been a magnet for artists — from Delacroix to Sickert — throughout the nineteenth century. Painted by Loiseau in 1903 and now held by the Museum of Fine Arts of Reims, this quayside scene captures the commercial and maritime activity of Duquesne Quay, named for the admiral Abraham Duquesne. Loiseau was drawn repeatedly to Norman ports and rivers, finding in the reflective water surfaces and dynamic light the ideal conditions for his Post-Impressionist divided technique. The quay's architecture and boats create strong linear elements against which he could play the atmospheric qualities of Channel light.

Loiseau structures the composition around the quay's horizontal plane, using the reflections in the harbor water to extend the color field downward. His divided brushwork builds the architectural facades from warm ochres and pinks, with the water surface rendered in broken strokes of gray-blue and silver.