(Quiévy 1882–1960 Paris)

Le Port. 1907.

Oil on canvas.

Signed lower right: Herbin.

65 × 81 cm.

Provenance:
- Galerie Neupert, Zurich, no. 1316 (label on the reverse).
- Swiss private collection, since the 1950s in the same family.

Literature:
Geneviève Claisse: Herbin. Catalogue Raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Paris 1993, p. 301, no. 129 (with ill.).

Today, Auguste Herbin is considered an important co-founder of geometric-constructivist art; however, his oeuvre is rooted in Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. 1907 was decisive in the determination of his personal style, which is particularly characterised by a free handling of form and colour. In the spring of that year he worked in Corsica and was fascinated by the Mediterranean island with its clear light. Several works from the port of Bastia were created there. Likewise in 1907, just a few months later, he painted views of the port in Hamburg, with more compact shapes and muted tones reacting to the conditions of the north.