Sunlight on Water

• Maurice de Vlaminck (1876–1958)
• 1905
• Oil on canvas
• Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
• (1975.1.220)

Like Henri Matisse and other Fauve painters, Maurice de Vlaminck applied vivid, intense colors in bold brushstrokes to create a sense of space without traditional perspective. He experimented by first covering the entire surface in blue, then layering strokes of yellow and white to suggest sunlight reflecting on the water. The sky above the row of buildings is painted in even denser pigment. In the foreground, a small boat floats beside a tall red pole that cuts sharply through the composition.