Gustave De Smet

The scene evokes the world of the docks, where sailors get drunk in the company of prostitutes at night. Gustave De Smet had already explored this theme in 1925 in his gouache *Woman and Sailor*. The subject is treated with poetry, lightness, and without any judgement. The forms are simplified, monumental and understated. The composition bears a resemblance to Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe. Yet the stylisation of the woman’s beauty, the geometrisation of the forms, the absence of perspective and the whimsical use of colour bring us back to Cubism. White, pale pink, grey, beige. A gradient of blue. Light, refined tones that contrast with the harsher palette of other Flemish Expressionists. The colours create a gentle, serene atmosphere, which the artist took care to preserve by flying a Dutch flag – rather than a Belgian one – on his boat (De Zeearend – The Sea Eagle), so as to remain within the same colour scheme.

This translation has been automatically generated by DeepL.