Atelier de l'artiste ;

Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, une étiquette portant le numéro '9049' au verso (acquis auprès de ce dernier le 24 mai 1909) ;

Collection C.M. Paul (Continental Gall) (acquis auprès de cette dernière le 1er juin 1959) ;

A l'actuel propriétaire par cessions successives ;

Collection particulière, France

We would like to thank the Durand-Ruel Archives for the information they kindly provided.

Henry Moret's two works, Roches de Pern à Ouessant and Une vallée en Nevez, Finistère were painted in Brittany between 1903 and 1905. During this period, Moret spent much of his time in these Celtic lands, where he painted seascapes, rocky coasts and the countryside.

His Brittany landscapes are luminous, characterised by the use of touches of pure colour, allowing the visual impression to take precedence over an exact fidelity to reality.

Moret, aware of the very distinctive and ever-changing variations in light in Brittany, sought to depict the effects of this light upon the natural elements - water, sky, rocks, vegetation - through a play of contrasts and chromatic harmonies, made possible by a remarkably free use of his palette.

He introduced vivid colours: blues, yellows and greens, as seen in his description of the sea in Roches de Pern à Ouessant. The sun's rays are reflected in the water, which is adorned in shades of blue that can also be seen on the edges of the rocks. The working of the nuances of colour are even more obvious in Une Vallée en Nevez, Finistère, where the artist chooses a palette full of variations of pink and violet that he uses in both the sky and the landscape.

His paintings, whether seascapes or landscapes, emphasise the interplay between light and nature, with transitions of colour and clean, dynamic brushstrokes. Through his coastal and inland views, Moret also sought to convey a contemplative, almost spiritual side to his rendering of nature. He does not simply reproduce it, but captures the emotion and poetry that emerge from it. His paintings can be seen as invitations to reflect on the immensity of the sea or the tranquil beauty of the Brittany countryside.

In this respect, he is a faithful disciple of Claude Monet, a fact that Paul Durand-Ruel understood well enough to make Henry Moret one of the protégés of his gallery of Impressionist painters.