Alabaster Coast

Oil on hardboard, signed Iriart (20th century) in the lower right, depicting a landscape of the Alabaster Coast in Normandy, France, with its white chalk cliffs overlooking the English Channel.

This painting stands out for its particularly free use of color and its expressive, graphic brushwork. The brushstrokes are broad and heavily textured, appearing in places to be complemented by palette knife work. The entire composition conveys a strong sense of movement, enhanced by the color contrasts and the way the paint itself is handled.

In the foreground, a small green boat resting on the beach provides a figurative anchor that balances this abundance of color.

The cliff occupies almost the entire right half of the composition, becoming an immense surface of color. Touches of yellow, orange, green, and violet follow the layers and irregularities of the rock, giving depth and texture to this monumental cliff face.

The beach, meanwhile, is painted with remarkable freedom. Colors are juxtaposed, sometimes without blending, forming an almost mosaic-like arrangement of multicolored strokes. In places, the painting approaches abstraction. The colors no longer seek to reproduce reality; they actively contribute to the construction of the landscape.

The work reflects a Post-Impressionist sensibility through its visible brushwork and the way color is used to construct the landscape, while also evoking Fauvism through the freedom of its palette, detached from reality.