Landscape at Céret [Paysage à Céret]

After World War I ended in 1919, Soutine remained in Céret, a small town in the Pyrenees, for approximately three years. This town is located in southwest France, 30km inland from the Mediterranean coast, and within 10km of the Franco-Spanish border. It is also well-known as a place where, during the peak of Cubism, Picasso and Braque often came to create their works.
Soutine received support from a art dealer, Zborowski, who unfailingly supported Modigliani as well. Here in Céret, Soutine created many of his masterpieces. Although Soutine was still in his late twenties at that time, his painting style rapidly developed during his stays in Céret. The steep mountainous landscape expressed by his dancing brush strokes fills this painting with tension and energy and, while it appears chaotic, the painting's overall unity always remains, giving the viewer a sense of overwhelming power. With this painting, his status as a gifted painter was definitively established. After he returned to Paris from Céret bringing almost 200 of his works, his talent was singled out by an American collector, Dr. Albert Barnes. As a result, he was able to gain fame and finally escape from his seemingly endless poverty.
(Source: Selected Works from the Collection of Nagoya City Art Museum, 1998, P. 21.)