From 1850 to 1874, the coasts of Normandy in France experienced a migration of Bourgeois travelers from Paris to the area. This traveling population was made possible by the new railway system put in place that provided access to the coastal areas that were previously inaccessible. The new railway system allowed travelers to travel to these coastal areas within a matter of hours as opposed to several days by carriage. From the wave of travelers also came artists arriving eager to depict the beauty of the sea and quaint villages that resided along the coast.
Eugene Isabey (1803-1886), whose work was influenced by his studies and work in the Louvre Museum and life living among other emerging Impressionist artists in the Montmartre area in Paris, gives his interpretation of a Norman fishing village during this time. His Norman Fishing Village, oil on canvas French Impressionist painting, provides a glimpse into the activities of these small fishing villages located along the Norman coast. Immediately viewing the work, the eye is drawn to the fishing village. Rectangular and triangular shapes form the outlines of the village as well as the whiteness in the depiction in the painted clouds just behind the village building. Long straight vertical lines are used to emphasize the tallness of the first building, which the eye is drawn to, in the forefront that seems to overlook and tower over the sandy colored beach. The artist creates detail in the building by using short thin horizontal and vertical lines to create windows, doors, and shingles on the initial building in the painting. Texture within the initial village building is created by using brush strokes that create patterns of roughness. The noticeable horizontal and vertical strokes give the appearance of grains of wood on the building. Depth is created within the village by the artist with the use of atmospheric perspective from the left portion of the painting to the right. The first village building is vibrant compared to the other buildings depicted with its various shaded browns, and then fades into a grayish geometric mass as it proceeds into the distance. Isabey also creates depth in the painting by the use of overlapping of the buildings one after the other to create the illusion of a row of darkly shaded buildings along the Norman coast line, as well as shadowing to created depth along the rows of buildings.
Isabey utilizes linear perspective to draw the eye down the stair way to the shores of the beach. The stairway exhibits strong parallel lines using paint with a lighter tint of brown than the initial village building to direct and guided the eye down the stair way. The depiction of deeply shaded greens flowing over the lighter brown stairway creates interest as the eye is also guided down the stairs by a person in a dark blue form. The scene at the bottom involves the organic forms of two people around a small boat with gently curving thin lines colored in various shaded browns, a shade darker than the stairway. Darkly shaded complimentary colors form small masses in the boat in smooth textures suggesting the accoutrement of a fishing excursion. The artist uses warm, sandy colors on the beach to demonstrate atmospheric perspective as the beach gently fades into the glossy textured darkly shaded bluish sea.
The overall depiction of the painting is balanced by the use of warm colors in the village on the left and the cool smooth textures of the bluish sky and sea to the right. The straight lines of the initial village building are balanced by the curved lines by the fading atmospheric perspective of the village into the distance and the vast sky and sea. The warm colors in the village create warmth and interest that are balanced by the intrigue and mystery of the sky and sea. These elements suggest the warmth the artist must have felt upon encountering a small quaint Norman fishing village coupled with the mystery and intrigue of a life at sea.
