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Dimensions: 100 by 81cm., 39 3/8 by 32in.

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Provenance: Herman Berningerand Jean-Albert Cartier, Pougny: Catalogue de L'oeuvre, vol. 2, Office du Livre, Zurich, p.98, 336

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Notes:

View Through a Window onto the Port of Saint Tropez, 1926-27 is one of a series of works by Pougny featuring views from his room on the French Riviera. The composition of this painting with the window opened onto the bay with sailing boats and the motif of the intricate window bar in the foreground is reminiscent of views of Saint Tropez and Collioure by Henri Matisse.

While St. Tropez was a favourite place among many artists of that period, the influence of Matisse's works on Pougny is not accidental. Pougny shared Matisse's accent on decor as well as he highly valued the artist not only for the "quality of coloration, but also for his two-dimensional painting which allowed for zones of silence between the colours, thus bringing them to maximum intensity"(Herman Berninger, Jean-Albert Cartier, Catalogue de L'oeuvre, vol. 2, p.81).

However unlike Matisse in his View Through a Window onto the Port of Saint Tropez Pougny uses dark grey and brick colours so uncharacteristic of the sunny Cote d'Azur. This, together with deliberately careless manner of painting and inclination of the composition built up on the vertical and horizontal lines to the left convey a disturbing and gloomy atmosphere.