Plus de Vin

“Plus de Vin”, also known as “The Empty Flagon” is one of the largest paintings in oil by Carlos Reis and also ranked among the best in the gallery of this distinguished painter. It represents the end of a dinner party at a village, as the popular and rural motifs are preferred by this artist of aristocratic lineage, noble figure and elegant spirit, as this Naturalist painter was characterized. In this painting, the guests disperse in euphoria, with remarkable expression and drawing. It is without any doubt, its great painting and makes part of the “glass campaign”, picturesque phase of the artist; an icon of costumes of opulent composition and grace that offered him world reputation: splendid transparencies and magnificent balance, which comes up against the resounding melancholy that dominates the centre with a folded white towel under simple and perfect light; the finishing touch of light and relief is achieved with the realistic painting of fruits, emphasising the cut watermelon. The rough tableware and the glazed earthenware complete the dialogue with an indolent villager at the back of the setting who gazes at the glasses, the bottles and the empty flagon, on the way out with the rest of the guests with the remarkable expressions on the face: the “dry mouth” as final remark of this popular narrative; the “closing curtain” of the light that sprinkles the head of the people that goes outside, and the fresh luminous note that closes the liveliness of the painting.
This invaluable work confirms the unremitting energy, the unmistakable talent, and the formidable brush of Carlos Reis, artist of the Group Silva Porto, admired by and protégé of King D. Carlos.