Cassis

The harbour town of Cassis spreads out below, its rooftops a scatter of terracotta against dark pines and a hard Provençal blue. Samuel Peploe painted the place at its most direct, without softening anything. The sea holds the eye first. It is a flat, saturated ultramarine, cut by the pale verticals of boats masts and the white curve of a quayside wall. Buildings cluster in ochre, cream and shuttered grey, their shadows laid on in broad, confident strokes of violet. Peploe builds the composition in planes rather than outlines, each block of colour set down wet against the next so the edges stay crisp. Pine foliage on the right is a dense, almost black green, pushing the sunlight forward. A dining room or a sunroom with white walls and bare floors gives the strong blues and ochres room to breathe.